Congress-CPI(M) in Kerala come together to oust Gyanesh Kumar

Kerala’s political rivals find common ground over SIR, while the BJP challenges the opposition’s arguments

October 12, 2026

Political rivals unite: Kerala resolution targets CEC Gyanesh Kumar

As a mark of solidarity with the CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress, which were swept away by the BJP’s tornado in the May 2026 elections to Kerala and West Bengal Legislative Assemblies, the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)- led LDF on Monday passed a resolution in the Kerala Assembly demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The charge against the CEC was that it was because of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls carried out in these States that the BJP won in West Bengal and Assam.

The passing of the resolution has all the ingredients of a political comedy, as it is silent about the defeat of the DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu, where the Congress was the second most important ally of the Dravidian party during the election. After the results of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly were announced, the Congress divorced the DMK and started a new honeymoon with Joseph Vijay’s TVK. The Grand Old Party has become a constituent of the TVK government, with two of its MLAs getting elevated as ministers in the Joseph Vijay-led government.

In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF swept the 2026 election by winning 102 out of the total seats of 140, decimating the CPI(M)-led LDF. Ramesh Chennithala, home minister of Kerala, is on record declaring that the UDF won the Kerala polls only because of the SIR. “Had it not been done, the CPI(M) would have returned to power for the third time in succession,” Chennithala had told in many public meetings and pressers.

The three members of the BJP voted against the resolution. But the resolution has been passed in the Kerala Legislative Assembly as per the command issued by the Nehru-Gandhi clan to drum up support for the anti-CEC protests staged in the national capital. “The passing of this resolution will not make any difference as it has no legal or constitutional sanctity. This is the same Legislative Assembly which passed a unanimous resolution demanding the release of Abdul Nazar Madani, leader of the Islamic extremist organization PDP, who was arrested in connection with the Coimbatore serial blasts of 1996 which claimed the lives of more than 100 Hindus,” said a political observer based in Thiruvananthapuram who has a track record of more than four decades in chronicling the state’s politics.

The 80-year old camaraderie between the Communists and Congress, which was hitherto confined to New Delhi and other states, came out in Kerala for the first time on Monday. This time it has a major reason other than defeating the BJP. Pinarayi Vijayan, former chief minister who owns the CPI(M), along with his daughter Veena and her new husband Mohammed Riyaz, are the prime accused in a major corruption case involving a sand mining baron dug out by the Enforcement Directorate. The ED had asked the Kerala government to file a criminal case against the trio in this connection. Though the UDF government dilly-dallied in taking action on the ED report, the Kerala High Court came down strongly on the State government and asked it to file an FIR against the father-daughter-son-in-law combo. The inordinate delay in filing the FIR against the Pinarayis is because of the role of senior Congress and Islamic leaders in the pay-off scandal.

Interestingly , while the resolution against Gyanesh Kumar was being passed in the Legislative Assembly, the BJP cadre in the state took out a mammoth march to the Government secretariat demanding the resignation of the UDF government. “If the SIR was responsible for the defeat of the Trinamool Congress government in Bengal, the same holds true for Kerala too. We have to assume that the SIR in Kerala too is fake and hence we demand the resignation of this government which too came to power through fake SIR,” said Prof K S Radhakrishnan, vice president, Kerala BJP.

The BJP had alleged much before the election to the Kerala Assembly that the electoral roll in the state has been jampacked with names of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to facilitate the CPI(M) victory.

Saturday and Sunday saw the CPI(M) and Congress holding a collaborative agitation in New Delhi demanding the ouster of Gyanesh Kumar from the Election Commission. The rallyists were joined by the Cockroach Janata Party (also known by the name Christian Jihadi Party) and a host of letter-head organizations by name SFI, AISA and AISF.

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