The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a fresh work allocation order requiring its Director General of Information Technology, Seema Khanna, to route files related to the IT and communications divisions, as well as the public grievance redressal system, through Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma, The Hindureported.
Under the order issued on November 4, Khanna will have to route these files through Sharma, The Indian Expressreported.
The order comes amid an internal dispute over changes to the allocation of responsibilities within the poll body. On July 28, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg issued an order removing Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar from the charge of the IT and communications divisions. The order allowed Khanna to report directly to the Election Commission.
A day later, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi wrote separate letters to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan, raising concerns over the changes, an investigation by The Indian Express published on September 23 reported.
At the time, Garg was holding additional charge of the Election Commission's administration division while Deputy Election Commissioner Bhanu Prakash Yeturu was on leave.
In their letters, Sandhu and Joshi objected to the changes, alleging that the revisions had been made without consulting the Commission or the officers concerned, despite instructions that such changes required prior discussion or approval, The Indian Express reported.
The investigation, based on records obtained through a Right to Information application filed by retired Navy officer Commodore Lokesh K Batra, also detailed the changes made to the responsibilities of senior officials.
The objections came amid concerns raised by the two election commissioners over access to and control of the digital systems used to maintain electoral rolls.
In May, Joshi flagged what he described as a "gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database". He proposed an audit to certify that "no one, except the concerned statutory authorities, has credentials to make any change in the database", The Indian Express reported.
In August, Sandhu recorded that state-level election officials had reported that they "don't have proper and complete access" to the digital system used by the Election Commission to maintain electoral rolls, according to the newspaper.
He also questioned Khanna's authority to restrict access to the system, stating that she "doesn't have any legal authority to restrict proper and complete access and freedom to operate, as given by law, to the statutory authorities".
In a press note issued after a meeting of the Commission on September 26, the Election Commission said the letters sent by Sandhu and Joshi to the Cabinet Secretary concerned the functioning of an officer on deputation to the ECI and not any policy matter relating to the Commission or its IT division.
The Commission also said the work redistribution orders issued by the officer had not been implemented following directions from the two election commissioners. It added that oversight of the IT division by a deputy election commissioner had "never actually been withdrawn".
The Commission later clarified that a joint direction issued by the two election commissioners on July 30 meant the July 28 work allocation order was never implemented.