Kozhikode Corporation Council seeks Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation

The Kozhikode Corporation Council on Thursday (October 8, 2026) sought the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of tampering with the voters’ list in the name of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The council also urged the Union government to intervene in the issue.

An adjournment motion for the purpose was moved by S.K. Aboobacker of the Congress. Other United Democratic Front (UDF) members supported it. Thereafter, those from the Left Democratic Front (LDF) also endorsed the motion. LDF members supporting the adjournment motions of their political rivals from the Opposition is something rare in the Corporation council. However, after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members opposed the move, it was put to vote.

As many as 60 members from the LDF and the UDF supported the motion and 10 from the BJP opposed it. Later, the motion was declared passed with an amendment.

Mr. Aboobacker had sought the involvement of the Supreme Court for the resignation of Mr. Kumar. However, Mayor O. Sadashivan said the council cannot raise such a demand. Then, the motion was amended seeking the involvement of the Union government in the issue. During the discussion on the motion, BJP members including Nambidi Narayanan, T. Reneesh, N. Sivaprasad, and Shinu Pinnanath said such a motion cannot be created out of nothing.

K.C. Shobitha of the UDF wondered why the BJP members were intolerant towards criticism of the wrong policies of the Union government. Intervening in the discussion, Mr. Sadashivan said that crores of voters had been removed from the electoral rolls after the SIR, and that those protesting against it were being branded as anti-nationals.

Meanwhile, the meeting decided to demolish the Corporation building at Palayam, which was deemed unfit recently by an expert team from the National Institute of Technology-Calicut. When the proposal was put to vote, LDF and BJP members supported it and the UDF opposed it. The meeting also decided to release ₹27.82 lakh in total as compensation for the victims of 32 stray dog attack cases reported between 2014 and 2021. The highest individual compensation is over ₹12 lakh.