The Chief Election Commissioner occupies a constitutional office whose sweep and influence are difficult to exaggerate. He is the custodian of the machinery through which the people exercise their sovereign right to choose their government.

The credibility of that machinery, therefore, depends not merely on the Election Commission being impartial but also on its head being demonstrably above suspicion.

That is precisely why the allegations now resurfacing against CEC Gyanesh Kumar cannot be dismissed as political mudslinging. Keralam has ordered a fresh Vigilance probe into allegations dating back to 2006, when Kumar was secretary of the state public works department.

The case concerns Malaysian engineer Lee See Been, associated with a World Bank-funded road........

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