Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister V D Satheesan on Sunday said chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar shouldn’t continue in office even for a day in the wake of allegations made by Keralam’s former chief secretary Jiji Thomson.In a statement issued by the chief minister’s office, Satheesan described Thomson’s revelations against Kumar as “extremely serious” and alleged that Kumar had acted as an agent of BJP and worked to undermine democracy in the party’s favour. He alleged that there was no further evidence needed to establish that Kumar had worked as a BJP agent.Satheesan alleged that Kumar had compromised the credibility of Election Commission and said history would record him as someone who had dealt a “death sentence” to Indian democracy.Satheesan said Kumar, who held one of the country’s highest constitutional offices, shouldn’t continue in the post even for a moment if he had undermined the democratic process. He said Constitution required the election process and Election Commission to function independently.He further alleged that Kumar had compromised Election Commission’s transparency, integrity, impartiality and democratic credibility.Satheesan referred to leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s earlier allegations concerning the functioning of Election Commission, saying the allegations had been borne out by the revelations against Kumar.He alleged that Election Commission had been reduced to an institution functioning in cooperation with BJP and said Kumar’s continuation in office would damage the country’s democracy.
