CommodoreLokeshBatra

On July 28, an order allowed the Election Commission's IT head to report directly to the Commission. 2 Election Commissioners said it was issued without their knowledge. More than 3 months later, Commission has brought the oversight back while insisting nothing ever changed. As reported by @sreeparna_c in @the_hindu , here is the sequence. July 28. Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg who held interim charge of administration issued an internal order. It removed DEC Sanjay Kumar from charge of the IT & ICT divisions and gave Director General (IT) Seema Khanna a free hand, enabling her to report directly to the Commission. The DG (IT) heads the Commission's IT department & oversees its digital infrastructure, including the systems for electoral roll management. July 29. Election Commissioners S.S. Sandhu & Vivek Joshi wrote to the Cabinet Secretary. In letters obtained under RTI by Commodore (retd) Lokesh Batra they objected that Garg had changed the work allocation of officers - 🔹"within hours of" taking charge of administration, 🔹"without discussing or informing" them, 🔹despite "repeated and explicit oral and written instructions" to all officers, 🔹& that he had "issued similar orders on one earlier occasion." Now. A fresh order requires the DG (IT) to route files on IT, ICT and public grievances through Senior DEC Pawan Kumar Sharma. The Commission's line? ECI sources insist there is "no change" in the reporting structure & that the work allocation orders were issued as per unanimous decisions of the Commission. In the Supreme Court, the ECI said the July 28 order had never been implemented. Look at the three claims together: 🔹Two of the three Commissioners say the order was issued without discussing it with them. 🔹Commission says the order was never implemented. 🔹Its sources say it was a unanimous decision, and nothing has changed. All three can't be true. And one more fact from the report. Sanjay Kumar, the DEC who had been in charge of the electoral rolls & IT divisions & who signed the June 24, 2025 order that launched SIR across the country, has left the Commission through what The Hindu describes as a "premature repatriation." The Commission hasn't explained why. Questions demands that the Election Commission answer - 🔹Did the full Commission approve the July 28 order, or not? 🔹If it was never implemented, why did it take more than three months to formally reverse it? 🔹Why was the DEC in charge of the electoral rolls and IT repatriated early, and on whose decision? 🔹What action has been taken on the Commissioners' complaint that an officer repeatedly changed work allocations without their knowledge? 🔹Which decisions on ECINet and the voter rolls were taken while this order stood? The system that holds India's voter rolls cannot be run on orders that two Commissioners say were issued without them & on explanations that contradict each other. One order, 3 explanations and no accountability. Election Commission owes India the truth about who has been running its most sensitive system. thehindu.com/news/national/e…