NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has reallocated work among its deputy election commissioners (DEC) and directors-general in view of the recent appointment of DEC Prakash Rajpurohit. DG (IT) Seema Khanna, who heads the division that manages the ECINet portal and application, will now put up all files regarding the IT/ICT and grievances divisions under her charge through senior DEC Pawan Kumar Sharma.Sources in the commission said Khanna - whose name cropped up after Indian Express reported on Sept 23, 2026, that election commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected to the alleged "centralisation" of ECINET, with access restricted for even authorised field officers - was earlier putting up these files through senior DEC Maneesh Garg, and before that through then DEC Sanjay Kumar.Though Garg had, while officiating as DEC (administration) during the leave period of DEC Bhanu Prakash Yeturu in July, issued a work allocation order that allowed Khanna to no longer route her files through then DEC Sanjay Kumar, this order was never implemented after the two election commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected. This…
EC rejigs work, new officer to oversee ECINet functioning
In short
Under the formal reallocation order issued on November 4, Director-General Seema Khanna must submit IT and ECINet files directly through Pawan Kumar Sharma rather than her previous supervisory channels. This move follows an abortive attempt in July to eliminate intermediate scrutiny over the division, which faced strong opposition from Election Commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The commission later reaffirmed this supervisory structure in an affidavit approved by the full panel for the Supreme Court. Although the dissenting commissioners escalated their grievances to the Cabinet Secretariat, the government declined to intervene to preserve the constitutional body's independence.
Key points
- Administrative authority over the ECINet platform has been consolidated under senior Depu…: Administrative authority over the ECINet platform has been consolidated under senior Deputy Election Commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma.
- The commission formally maintained layered oversight of its technology division following…: The commission formally maintained layered oversight of its technology division following objections raised before the Supreme Court.
- The executive branch deliberately declined to arbitrate internal disputes that were not s…: The executive branch deliberately declined to arbitrate internal disputes that were not submitted by the full Election Commission.