Congress leader demands removal of India’s election chief over BJP allegation

Indian National Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal has demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after a former civil servant allegedly said Kumar urged him to join the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2016. Venugopal was responding to a disclosure attributed to former Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson.

According to the report, Thomson said Kumar made the request while serving as an Indian Administrative Service officer in the Kerala cadre. Venugopal described the alleged disclosure as “extremely serious”. He claimed it showed that Kumar had acted to help install Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in power.

The Congress leader also alleged that Kumar’s appointment as Chief Election Commissioner was a reward for serving the BJP’s interests while in government service. These allegations were made by Venugopal and were not independently substantiated in the supplied material. The report does not include a response from Kumar, the BJP or the government to the accusations.

Venugopal also criticised parliamentary legislation that, he said, prevents civil or criminal proceedings against the Chief Election Commissioner or other election commissioners for actions taken or words spoken in the discharge of their official duties. He accused Kumar of undermining elections and heading what he called a system that seizes power by weakening democracy. Venugopal further claimed that dissent was emerging within the National Democratic Alliance over Kumar’s role.

The Congress general secretary urged the Modi government to remove the CEC and protect the integrity of the Election Commission. The report, published in Thiruvananthapuram, provided no details about any formal investigation or institutional action arising from Thomson’s alleged disclosure.