Pinarayi calls for removal of Gyanesh Kumar from CEC post

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Leader of the Opposition in the Keralam Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan has demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, pointing out that the credibility of the Election Commission of India (EC) had been completely undermined and that its functioning had become an exercise in autocracy because of the manner in which the CEC was conducting the affairs of the EC.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Mr. Vijayan said that the country’s constitutional institutions were facing an unprecedented threat and that the recent reports about the conduct of CEC were “shocking”.

He said that media reports about the autocratic interventions of Mr. Gyanesh Kumar, dismissing objections recorded by the other two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, on several decisions relating to electoral roll management, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), were “extremely serious”. He said that Mr. Gyanesh Kumar had undermined the principle of collective responsibility of the EC and alleged that the EC was being made to function in favour of the ruling party.

Mr. Vijayan also criticised the manner in which SIR and other electoral roll revision exercises were being conducted, with a total lack of transparency. Media revelations that these alleged manipulations were all being directed from the EC’s headquarters itself was shocking.

He said that the Left parties cannot be a silent spectator to this and that they will oppose as a joint front, the attempt to undermine democracy and the nation’s valued constitutional institutions. Mr. Gyanesh Kumar should be removed immediately, he said, adding that the ‘non-transparent’ voters’ list revision exercises must be stopped and the voting rights of those who had been wrongfully excluded from electoral rolls must be restored.

He appealed to all who believe in democracy to participate in the nation-wide protest programmes being organised from September 26 to October 2.

Senior CPI(M) leader and former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac on Friday said Mr. Gyanesh Kumar had a questionable record while serving in Kerala early in career. Addressing a press conference here, Dr. Isaac said the former Kerala cadre IAS officer had faced serious allegations as Secretary of the Public Works in connection with the World Bank-aided Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP).

His name had also figured in a suicide note left by Lee See Been, the Malaysian chief project manager of the Indo-Malaysian joint venture responsible for a part of KSTP, Dr. Isaac said. Although he was PWD secretary when the CPI(M)-led LDF government led by V.S. Achuthanandan came to power in 2006, he was removed the same year following corruption allegations in connection with the KSTP, Dr. Isaac said.

The government had ordered a Vigilance probe. Later, Mr. Gyanesh Kumar had moved to Union Defence Ministry. Slamming Mr. Gyanesh Kumar’s role in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll, Dr. Isaac called for his removal as CEC stating that he had proved himself ineligible to continue in the post.

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