Gyanesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner, comes under new investigative scrutiny. The Kerala government has ordered a Vigilance probe into a case registered in 2006 while he was then Secretary of Kerala’s Public Works Department. Kumar is under political and public fire over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of rolls, now nearly two decades old, that has been brought to a boil again.
Why has a 20-year-old case returned?
The case pertains to the death of Malaysian engineer Lee See Been in 2006. It was reported that the case was linked to work undertaken by the Malaysian PATI-BEL consortium in the PWD department when Kumar was Kerala’s public works minister. Kerala government has now asked for a new Vigilance inquiry into the case and the way the previous investigation was conducted. Media reports claim it is being asked whether the previous investigation was influenced by outside factors. The reopening of the case does not, in itself, demonstrate the guilt of Kumar. The Vigilance investigation is meant to look into the charges and also probe the circumstances of the earlier probe.
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What is the allegation involving Gyanesh Kumar?
It was also reported that Kumar was among those named in connection with the 2006 case, even in documents associated with the Lee See Been case. The new probe will likely look into the allegations and see if there was anything irregular missed out in the previous investigation. The matter stems from when Kumar was in a high administrative position in Kerala. The fresh order draws the spotlight once again on decisions and events from Kumar’s Kerala state government tenure.
Why is the case significant now?
The announcement comes at a politically sensitive moment for the Chief Election Commissioner. Kumar has recently been in the news for his criticism of the Election Commission‘s efforts at conducting the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls. The Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had repeatedly recorded their objections to decisions related to the ERO mobilization and the SIR exercise. The Election Commission said that there is no issue with dissent among commissioners and in fact, record it to show it is a unanimous decision.
What happens next?
The Kerala Vigilance probe will next investigate what actually took place in the 2006 case and what our initial treatment of that matter suggests warrants our searching some more. Until then, the allegations must be called allegations and not facts. To Gyanesh Kumar, the re-investigation in his Kerala case breathes fresh life into public criticism of the Election Commission even – even as it is under attack on almost every other front. What the fresh probe reveals about the 2006 case and the earlier investigation is the big question now.
