{
  "id": 10122032,
  "title": "India's CEC Gyanesh Kumar offered me BJP ticket, ex-Kerala chief secretary claims",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/indias-cec-gyanesh-kumar-offered-me-bjp-ticket-ex-kerala-chief",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-27T02:11:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Gulf News",
    "slug": "gulf-news",
    "url": "https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/cec-gyanesh-kumar-offered-me-bjp-ticket-ex-kerala-chief-secretary-claims-1.500689185"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Kerala chief secretary Jiji Thomson has alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar approached him in 2016 to contest the Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate. The incident reportedly occurred during a flight to Delhi when both men were serving IAS officers. Thomson declined the offer. The claim has led to renewed calls from opposition parties for Kumar to step down, with Cockroach Janta Party leader Abhijeet Dipke demanding his resignation. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also criticized Kumar, accusing him of involvement in \"match-fixing elections.\" The allegation comes amid scrutiny over the Election Commission's handling of electoral rolls, with opposition parties raising concerns over disagreements within the Commission regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.",
  "summary": "CEC offered me BJP ticket: Ex-Kerala chief secretary",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}