Keralam CM Satheesan joins the chorus of political leaders calling for the CEC’s resignation

Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan on Sunday (September 27, 2026) joined the seemingly growing chorus of political leaders in Keralam demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. 

In a statement, Mr. Satheesan said that former Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson’s revelation that Mr Gyanesh Kumar had sought to persuade him to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 and contest on the party ticket from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency has raised worrying questions about the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s political even-handedness and neutrality. 

“Mr Gyanesh Kumar has operated recurrently as the BJP’s agent, compromising the ECI’s public credibility. He has lost the moral and constitutional right to continue in office and should step down immediately”, Mr. Satheesan demanded. 

Mr. Satheesan alleged that Mr. Gyanesh Kumar had tethered the ECI to the BJP’s post and made the Constitutional election watchdog an appendage of the Sangh Parivar. “His continuation as ECI would further imperil India’s already flailing democracy”, Mr. Satheesan said. 

Mr. Satheesan’s statement seemed to assume political and constitutional significance against the backdrop of allegations that Mr. Gyanesh Kumar had overruled two election commissioners to exclude lakhs of people, chiefly those hailing from minority communities and marginalised sections of society, from the electoral rolls to stack the decks in favour of the BJP in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. 

Mr. Thomson told The Hindu on Friday (September 25, 2026) that Mr. Gyanesh Kumar had made a friendly suggestion, not an offer, when sharing a flight to New Delhi. 

However, the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) and Left Democratic Front (LDF) opposition touted Mr. Thomson’s statement as more definitive proof of Mr. Gyanesh Kumar “subverting the ECI to rig the electoral system in favour of the pro-Corporate and Hindu nationalist dispensation at the Centre”. 

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader A. Sampath, an ex-MP and leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], said Mr Thomson’s revelation was only the tip of the iceberg, and more details about the ECI’s “lurch to the BJP” would soon come to light. 

On Saturday (September 26, 2026), Communist Party of India (CPI) State Secretary Binoy Viswam had termed Mr Thomson’s statement as further proof of the “Chief Election Commissioner’s servility to the BJP”. CPI(M) Central committee member T. M. Thomas Isaac had also struck a similar tack. 

Former Union Minister and BJP leader V. Muraleedharan, MLA, told The Hindu that Congress’s “frustration stemming from the INDIA bloc’s continuous failures in elections” had spawned the party’s attacks against the ECI. “Congress senses that the ordinary people of India have drawn the curtains down on one family-centred entitlement politics”.