How CPM is using a Dipke remark and near-universal hate for CEC Gyanesh Kumar to undermine UDF's 2026 victory

The Resolution calling for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was passed in the Kerala Assembly on Monday. Except for the three BJP MLAs, none dissented.

However, the 26 CPM MLAs raising their hands in support of the Resolution can be mistakenly interpreted as unconditional support for the cause. Beneath the seeming show of support, like the intricate and messy engineering that is encased within a sleek mechanical product, lies the party's surprise strategy to exploit the national mood against the CEC to discredit the UDF's historic 2026 Assembly victory.

This shrewd strategy, still in its rudimentary form, was inherent in the amendments to the Resolution moved by two CPM MLAs, Saji Cherian (Chengannur) and M Vijin (Kalliasseri). Both said 24 lakh voters had been deleted in Kerala after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The inclusion of this figure was one of the amendments moved by Saji Cherian.

Strangely, no one from the ruling side thought it fit to correct the CPM MLAs. It was in the Draft SIR list that 24 lakh voters were deleted. In the final SIR list, the deletions were less than nine lakh, just 8.97 lakh (3.24 per cent). Percentage-wise, this was the lowest among states where the SIR was completed.

Cherian's other amendment was to the third paragraph of the Resolution. He wanted a sentence to be inserted after the second-last line of the paragraph, which goes like this: "The Election Commission has failed to operate the software used for the preparation and vetting of electoral rolls in a legal and transparent manner that protects a voter's rights under the People's Representation Act and Electoral Registration Rules."

Here is Cherian's proposed insertion. "This manipulation has been done through the software developed by ECINET. It is through this software that votes were deleted en masse in states, including Kerala, where SIR was conducted."

As for Vijin, he proposed a new sentence as the last line of the final sixth paragraph, and also the addition of a fourth demand in the Resolution.

Thus says the last line of the 6th paragraph: "Removing the CEC has become inevitable to restore the trust in the Election Commission." Vijin wanted one more line. "Such illegal interventions in the electoral rolls were made through the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of states. So action should be taken against CEOs who were part of this conspiracy to disenfranchise voters."

If at all it appeared that he was speaking of other states and not Kerala, the preface the young Kalliasseri MLA gave before he placed his next amendment before the House revealed his actual target. "In Kerala, 24 lakh voters have been deleted from the voters' list. The very same ECINET software was used in Kerala also," Vijin said.

It was with this introduction that he asked for the inclusion of a fourth demand in the Resolution.

The first three demands already included are: one, immediate restoration of the voting rights of voters unfairly disenfranchised; two, removal of the CEC from office; and three, reconstitution of the committee formed to pick the CEC with the Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Opposition Leader and Supreme Court Chief Justice. (Now, it is a Cabinet minister in the place of the Chief Justice).

Now, the fourth recommendation by Vijin. "Action should be taken against CEOs who vitiated the SIR process in the states in collusion with the ECI."

The man in Vijin's crosshairs: The then CEO, Kerala, Rathan U Kelkar, who is now Chief Minister V D Satheesan's secretary. The CPM had already asked whether Kelkar's appointment in the Chief Minister's office was a favour returned for Kelkar's help during the Assembly polls.

Interestingly, even the CPM Central Committee had not cited SIR as a reason for the LDF's traumatising loss in Kerala. However, Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke's recent remark in Bengaluru that the LDF in Kerala was also a victim of the SIR exercise seems to have emboldened the party to gradually construct a theory of martyrdom.

After Dipke's remark, CPM State Secretariat member M V Jayarajan said in a Facebook post that Kelkar had worked overtime for the victory of the UDF. "When the ECI was usurped by Gyanesh Kumar and crores who had voted against the BJP were struck off the list, here in Kerala Kelkar was busy including fake names in the voters' list for the UDF's benefit," Jayarajan said.

The amendments moved by the CPM members are a continuation of a brand new Dipke-inspired revival strategy.

It goes without saying that the Chief Minister rejected all the amendments. "These are politically motivated amendments that go against the spirit of the Resolution," the CM said.