ECI Reshuffles Work Allocation, Places IT Chief Seema Khanna Under Senior Deputy Election Commissioner

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced a layer of supervision for its director general of information technology and reassigned key responsibilities of a senior deputy election commissioner to another officer, amid mounting allegations of internal dissent within the poll panel.

The November 4 work order comes three months after a controversial July 28 order prompted two election commissioners to write to the Cabinet Secretary, raising objections over the changes. The ECI has told the Supreme Court that the July 28 order was never implemented, as it was recalled through a subsequent order on July 30.

ECI Places IT Director General Under Senior Deputy Election Commissioner

According to the new order, Director General of IT Seema Khanna will report to Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma. Khanna will handle IT/ICT and the public grievance redressal system (PGRS), with files from these functional divisions routed through Sharma.

Khanna is at the centre of a controversy over allegations that the ECI centralised its digital voter-roll infrastructure and introduced software restrictions that prevented state officials from accessing electoral lists.

Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, who issued the July 28 order, retains election planning but will be assisted by Deputy Election Commissioner Prakash Rajpurohit, who also has charge of delimitation.

Besides IT and ICT, Sharma will oversee political parties, election expenditure policy, the observer division and coordination. He will also handle the North East-II, East-II and South-II zones.

Garg Retains Election Planning And EVM Responsibilities

Garg retains charge of election planning, electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the Election Database Management Division. He will also oversee East-I, comprising Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, and North-III, comprising Uttar Pradesh.

Deputy Election Commissioner Bhanu Prakash Yeturu will handle administration, establishment, electoral rolls and the Right to Information (RTI) division. Rajpurohit will route election-planning files through Garg.

The order assumes significance because it comes around three months after election commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi wrote nearly identical letters to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan on July 29 raisnig concerns about the move.

Sandhu's letter included a copy of the July 28 order issued by Garg, which allocated responsibilities among ECI officials, including Khanna and Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court last month, the ECI said the July 28 order had not been implemented after a direction issued on July 30. The commission argued that the correspondence could not be treated as evidence that key decisions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) were taken without the concurrence of the other commissioners.

The work order and the commissioners' letters have drawn attention to Khanna and the IT department, which are at the centre of a controversy following an investigation by The Indian Express.

The investigation reported that a new IT protocol introduced by Khanna and approved by the ECI restricted access to the database of electors, including for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), who are responsible for adding or deleting names from voter rolls.

ECI Denies Allegations Of Differences Among Election Commissioners

The Indian Express investigation also reported differences between the election commissioners, including disagreements between Sandhu and Joshi and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The ECI has denied the allegations, maintaining that decisions were either unanimous or taken by a majority in accordance with the rules.

The controversy has nevertheless fuelled protests by activists, the Cockroach Janta Party and the parliamentary Opposition, intensifying pressure on Gyanesh Kumar.

Over the past two months, protesters have taken to the streets amid Metro closures, internet shutdowns, prohibitory orders and the deployment of around 40,000 security personnel in Delhi. The restrictions and the detention of several agitators have also sparked controversy.

The Opposition is demanding Gyanesh Kumar's removal and the scrapping of the contentious Special Intensive Revision. The BJP, meanwhile, has accused opposition parties of attempting to destabilise constitutional institutions and deflect attention from their political and electoral failures.

Separately, the Keralam Government has ordered a vigilance investigation into allegations against Kumar based on allegations that connect him with the suicide of a Malaysian engineer.

The accusations made by contractor VO Sajan claim that Kumar, while serving as Public Works Department (PWD) secretary had demanded a Rs 2 Crore bribe from the Malaysian Engineer.