Keralam BJP calls Assembly bid to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar a fraud

BJP Keralam president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday called the state Assembly's resolution seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar a "fraud", saying it was passed even as the matter was pending before the Supreme Court.

The Keralam Legislative Assembly passed the resolution on Monday, seeking Kumar's removal. The resolution also called for addressing alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, immediately restoring the voting rights of all eligible voters who had been wrongfully excluded, and reconstituting the committee for selecting Election Commissioners.

In a post on X, Chandrasekhar said 137 MLAs of the INDIA bloc had jointly passed the resolution and claimed it showed the Congress and the CPI(M) were acting as one despite accusing each other of having deals with the BJP. "For the first time in the history of the Keralam Assembly, three BJP/NDA MLAs stood against their fraud politics," he said.

Chandrasekhar also questioned why the former Chief Electoral Officer of Keralam, now the personal secretary to the chief minister, had not been removed from the post. He alleged that the Congress had benefited from the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls during the Assembly elections when the officer was in charge. "If they want the CEC removed, shouldn't the CM's personal secretary, who was the Chief Electoral Officer when SIR was implemented and under whom Congress received the benefits of SIR in this election, also be removed?" he asked.

Urging the public to debate and reflect on the issue, Chandrasekhar said people would no longer believe what he described as the Congress and CPI(M)'s "hypocrisy, double standards and fraud politics". "No matter what drama they stage, people will no longer believe Congress/CPI(M)'s hypocrisy, double standards and fraud politics. And to expose their fraud politics, BJP/NDA will always be there," he said.

The resolution, moved by V D Satheesan, also proposed that the committee responsible for selecting Election Commissioners should comprise the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India to ensure the independence and credibility of the institution. In effect, the Assembly's move and Chandrasekhar's response brought the dispute over the Special Intensive Revision and the role of the Election Commission to the centre of the political debate in Keralam.