"Told Me I Could Become Central Minister": Ex-Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson Claims CEC Gyanesh Kumar Scouted Him For BJP
Kozhikode: Former Chief Secretary of Kerala Jiji Thomson has made sensational disclosures regarding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the top poll official and bureaucrat once actively scouted him to contest elections on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket with the promise of a cabinet position in the Central Government.
Speaking to Asianet News, Thomson revealed details of a conversation that transpired in 2016 while he was still in service as Kerala’s Chief Secretary, and Kumar was a senior bureaucrat. According to Thomson, the unexpected proposal was put forward aboard a flight to Delhi.
“Gyanesh Kumar asked me why I couldn’t contest the elections on a BJP ticket,” Thomson told Asianet News. “He said that if I won, I could become a Central Minister. I immediately replied that I had no interest in contesting elections.”
Recounting the incident, Thomson expressed shock that a fellow civil servant would extend such an offer on behalf of a political party. “It was not Gyanesh Kumar’s place to make such an offer, and his move utterly surprised me,” Thomson added during his interview with Asianet News.
According to Thomson, Kumar’s proposition was that he should formally join the BJP upon his retirement from the administrative service.
Thomson’s revelations come at an exceptionally perilous moment for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who is already embroiled in a fierce national political storm over his neutrality and administration of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The fresh allegations land in the wake of investigative media reports revealing deep internal divisions within the top brass of the poll panel. Fellow Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi reportedly recorded formal objections on at least 14 separate occasions over the past 10 months. Their dissenting notes pertained to decisions made during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and changes to statutory procedures executed without full consensus.
The internal rift sparked nationwide protests led by opposition parties, including the Indian National Congress, demanding Kumar’s immediate resignation and arrest. Prominent former civil servants, such as former Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Teekaram Meena, have also publicly demanded that the CEC step down.
What could become Achilles’ Heal for Gyanesh Kumar in this total chaos and bad time, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), the youth and Gen Z collective with humongous social media presence, has called for his resignation and set a deadline which has already expired.
Meanwhile, the ECI released a statement today afternoon and said: “A meeting of the Election Commission of India was held today, 26 September 2026, at 3:00 PM at Nirvachan Sadan, New Delhi. Chief Election Commissioner Shri Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi were present in today’s meeting.” The statement mentioned set of measures including new deadline for SIR applications for those who are left out of the voters’ list in the past.
The revelations by Jiji Thomson has already caused political earthquake accusing Gyanesh Kumar of BJP agent. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi led the charges and he said: “First, Gyanesh Kumar – then a serving IAS officer – was used to recruit for the BJP. Then Modi and Shah made him the umpire and put him in charge of match-fixing India’s elections.”
