ECI's Defence on IT Oversight Falls as Garg Takes Over Files: Report

New Delhi: Two letters from Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi to Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan sent in July this year highlight yet another breach in the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI). A report in the Hindustan Times notes that Sanjay Kumar, a Deputy Election Commissioner through whom the ECI’s director general of IT was routing files, was removed on the instruction of Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg. After this, Garg himself began monitoring the files.

This marks a violation of the process to be followed in the commission, Sandhu and Joshi wrote, emphasising an alleged misconduct on the part of Garg and that he undermined the commission’s established norms of scrutiny.

This is significant because the ECI has explicitly stated that the letters to Somanathan from Sandhu and Joshi were not policy related. The ECI had said that the functioning of an officer was all that the letters were about.

In a statement, the ECI said that the instruction to remove Kumar and route files to Garg was “not actually implemented”. However, Kumar was repatriated to his home cadre, and DG(IT) Seema Khanna’s files were handed to Garg.

Moreover, the Indian Express investigation explains that it was Khanna and the IT department who instituted a system which prevented crucial officers (EROs and deputy EROs) from accessing the voter database through which the names of electors were added and deleted.

The Hindustan Times report says Cabinet Secretary Somanathan was unable to proceed further because the letters were written individually, and the commissioners were not acting as the poll panel. However, Somanathan is said to have forwarded the complaints to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). But the government is said to have interpreted the letters as information and not as a call for action.

Apparently, the report states, Garg met Sandhu and Joshi and told them that Kumar was removed to “address a hierarchy issue”, as the DG(IT), Khanna, was promoted  this year.