Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's tenure in Kerala was blemished by a glut of corruption allegations. During review meetings and personal interactions, Kerala politicians hurled piercing questions at him about his credibility and transparency. Some of the exchanges even turned ugly.

When Gyanesh Kumar served as Ernakulam District Collector, he convened a meeting to discuss drought. T H Mustafa, then the Kunnathunadu MLA, pricked Kumar with posers on not being active enough to curb sand-mining mafia. He pulled him up for his complacent approach. A cream of bureaucrats, police officials and public representatives were in attendance. Kumar was evidently rattled. He pulled his rank at Mustafa. "The election has been declared. I am the District Election Officer. If you can't talk decently, I am leaving this meeting," Kumar snapped at Mustafa.

Mustafa hit back in no time. "Who do you think you are. I am a former minister and an MLA. We know your deals with the sand mafia". Mustafa came roaring towards Kumar. Minister T M Jacob, who was present there, suddenly intervened and pulled Kumar along with DIG Mohammad Yasin to an adjacent room. Mustafa was still bristling, recollected Kalamassery Municipal Chairperson Jamal Manakkadan who was witness to the incident.

"At that time, we all got complaints against him. Mustafa wanted to take him on and the officer was spooked. I had personally asked him about his shady deals in land conversion," Manakkadan told Onmanorama. No official complaints were ever registered against him though during his tenure as the Collector.

When the World Bank-funded Kerala State Transport Project blew up into a major corruption row in 2006 especially after the suicide of Malaysian contractor Lee Been Seen, the government removed Gyanesh Kumar as the PWD secretary and didn't give him a new post. According to then Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, a vigilance probe was also ordered. Before the probe made any headway, Kumar managed to get a central deputation and left Kerala. This came as a surprise for many officials.

"How did he manage to get clearance from the state government for deputation when he faced a vigilance probe. Even now, officials are unable to get clearance because of a vigilance inquiry. It was strange that he managed to get away with it," Sibi Mathews, who was then the Vigilance ADGP, told Onmanorama.

While a vigilance probe was ordered after reports surfaced that Lee's suicide note had named Gyanesh Kumar among the corrupt officials, the fate of the inquiry is not known. Upendra Varma, who was the then Director, VACB could not be reached for comments. Jacob Punnose, who had served as the ADGP Intelligence said police had not come across the letter. "There were legal restraints which prevented Kerala police from accessing that note. Besides, Malaysian police didn't reach out to us as part of the probe," Punnose said.

Thomas Isaac also said he wasn't sure how he got clearance for deputation despite facing vigilance probe. Isaac, however, had his doubts. "At that time, the company was bombarding us with complaints after another for violation of contract agreements. They sought liquidated damages. In response, not a single letter was sent from PWD citing the lapses on the part of the contractor. It was strange. I summoned Kumar to my cabin and asked why no memos were sent to the contractor. I was really annoyed. He didn't reply and said he was planning to send one," Isaac told Onmanorama.

Sindhu Suryakumar, a senior journalist and wife of late Malayala Manorama reporter G Vinod, who did an exhaustive investigative series into the suicide of Lee said that the contractor's family members had shared distressing accounts of corruption of certain officials and that they had planned to move legally.

Opposition parties are demanding Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over his alleged autocratic practices in the implementation of Special Intensive Revision to favour BJP. His alleged links to the party gathered more weight after Kerala's former Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson told Onmanorama that Kumar had offered him BJP candidature.