Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should have joined the BJP and held a position in the party instead of serving as the head of the Election Commission, CPM General Secretary MA Baby said on Saturday.

Baby was reacting to former Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson's claim that Kumar had offered him a BJP ticket to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Pathanamthitta. Thomson told Onmanorama that Kumar made the offer during a flight to Delhi in 2016.

“This shows something about Kumar's background clearly. It would have been better if he had joined the BJP and held a position in the party. He would not have assaulted democracy in this manner,” Baby said.

Calling the development 'unfortunate', Baby added Kumar lacked the qualities essential for a Chief Election Commissioner, including independence, fearlessness, integrity and the ability to remain independent of political leadership.

According to Thomson, Kumar spoke highly of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their flight and asked whether he would be interested in contesting as a BJP candidate from Pathanamthitta in the 2019 general elections.

“I was serving as the Kerala Chief Secretary then. We were together on a flight. He was waxing eloquent about Prime Minister Modi and openly asked me if I was interested in contesting as a BJP candidate from Pathanamthitta in the 2019 general elections. He was very persuasive, but I promptly declined it,” Thomson said.

Thomson, who retired as Kerala Chief Secretary in 2016, added Kumar had also tried to persuade him to enter politics on an earlier occasion after learning that some people had approached him to contest an election. He said he had declined that offer as well.

Thomson's remarks come amid criticism from Opposition parties over Kumar's functioning as CEC, particularly in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The controversy intensified after the Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections at least 14 times over decisions and orders taken during the previous 10 months.