ETV Bharat: Hyderabad: Wednesday, 15 April 2026.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale shared Centre's response to his RTI application seeking property returns filed by CEC Gyanesh Kumar as an IAS officer.
National Spokesperson of
Trinamool Congress and Member of Parliament Saket Gokhale on Tuesday questioned
why the assets held by Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar
were declared “private information” under RTI when, as an IAS officer in the
past, his records were supposed to be publicly available.
The Rajya Sabha MP, in a
detailed post on X, shared his RTI application and the response from the
central government’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
In his RTI application dated November 5, 2025, Gokhale had sought details of the immovable property returns (IPRs) filed by Gyanesh Kumar as an IAS officer between 2015 and 2023.
In response, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) Anil Bajpai, according to the document shared by the MP, said the data sought was “personal information which is exempted under the Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005…”
The section that the CPIO referred to reads: Information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information.
Gokhale, in his RTI application, had contended that as per Section 8(2) of the RTI Act, even if an exemption is claimed under Section 8(1)(j), the information sought by him pertains to public servants in their official capacity and involves public interest in transparency and accountability, and disclosure of such information is not exempt.
CEC Facing Questions
Bengal polls are around the corner after a highly contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that has left around 90 lakh voters in the state in a limbo.
As CEC, Kumar has been facing allegations so much so that 193 opposition MPs recently submitted a notice to remove him, citing charges including alleged bias, partisan conduct, and manipulation of voter lists.
The Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman rejected the motion on April 6, citing a 'lack of proof’. Kumar assumed charge as the 26th CEC of India on February 19, 2025. Before this, he was appointed as an Election Commissioner on March 14, 2024. A 1988-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, Kumar served as the Union Cooperation Secretary until his retirement on January 31, 2024.
No IPR Data On DoPT Website
Calling him a “compromised CEC openly working for the BJP”, the TMC MP said Kumar's immovable property returns (IPRs), as an IAS officer, were not available on the DoPT website, even though this information is publicly available and periodically uploaded online on the website.
When ETV Bharat attempted to retrieve Kumar’s IPR details during his tenure as an IAS officer on the DoPT website, the information was not available. The IPR data of some other recently retired IAS officers was also not available on the portal.
“Mysteriously, without any explanation, the past IPR asset records of Gyanesh Kumar were suddenly removed from the website after he joined ECI. Since these IPRs are publicly held records, I asked the DoPT for a copy. Astonishingly, the Modi Govt refused to provide the copies, claiming it’s “private information”” Gokhale said in his post.
He questioned how these records, which were publicly displayed on the website for years, "suddenly become “private information” in Feb 2025?”
“What is the Modi Govt hiding about Gyanesh Kumar to suddenly make these records private?” the MP said, calling the CEC government’s “stooge”.
He added, “Every candidate contesting elections has to file a declaration of assets. Even SC & HC judges do it. Why, then, are even the PAST assets of the Chief Election Commissioner hidden from the public?”
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale shared Centre's response to his RTI application seeking property returns filed by CEC Gyanesh Kumar as an IAS officer.
In his RTI application dated November 5, 2025, Gokhale had sought details of the immovable property returns (IPRs) filed by Gyanesh Kumar as an IAS officer between 2015 and 2023.
In response, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) Anil Bajpai, according to the document shared by the MP, said the data sought was “personal information which is exempted under the Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005…”
The section that the CPIO referred to reads: Information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information.
Gokhale, in his RTI application, had contended that as per Section 8(2) of the RTI Act, even if an exemption is claimed under Section 8(1)(j), the information sought by him pertains to public servants in their official capacity and involves public interest in transparency and accountability, and disclosure of such information is not exempt.
CEC Facing Questions
Bengal polls are around the corner after a highly contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that has left around 90 lakh voters in the state in a limbo.
As CEC, Kumar has been facing allegations so much so that 193 opposition MPs recently submitted a notice to remove him, citing charges including alleged bias, partisan conduct, and manipulation of voter lists.
The Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman rejected the motion on April 6, citing a 'lack of proof’. Kumar assumed charge as the 26th CEC of India on February 19, 2025. Before this, he was appointed as an Election Commissioner on March 14, 2024. A 1988-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, Kumar served as the Union Cooperation Secretary until his retirement on January 31, 2024.
No IPR Data On DoPT Website
Calling him a “compromised CEC openly working for the BJP”, the TMC MP said Kumar's immovable property returns (IPRs), as an IAS officer, were not available on the DoPT website, even though this information is publicly available and periodically uploaded online on the website.
When ETV Bharat attempted to retrieve Kumar’s IPR details during his tenure as an IAS officer on the DoPT website, the information was not available. The IPR data of some other recently retired IAS officers was also not available on the portal.
“Mysteriously, without any explanation, the past IPR asset records of Gyanesh Kumar were suddenly removed from the website after he joined ECI. Since these IPRs are publicly held records, I asked the DoPT for a copy. Astonishingly, the Modi Govt refused to provide the copies, claiming it’s “private information”” Gokhale said in his post.
He questioned how these records, which were publicly displayed on the website for years, "suddenly become “private information” in Feb 2025?”
“What is the Modi Govt hiding about Gyanesh Kumar to suddenly make these records private?” the MP said, calling the CEC government’s “stooge”.
He added, “Every candidate contesting elections has to file a declaration of assets. Even SC & HC judges do it. Why, then, are even the PAST assets of the Chief Election Commissioner hidden from the public?”
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