Politics · India · 1 hr ago
Election Commission assigns new officer to oversee ECINet work
The Election Commission has assigned Pawan Kumar Sharma to oversee its IT and grievance divisions under a work reallocation order dated November 4.
These divisions include the ECINet portal and application, which are managed by Director-General Seema Khanna.
Khanna will now route files from those divisions through Sharma.
The change follows a dispute over who should oversee the IT division and whether work allocations had been changed without the commissioners’ approval.
In an affidavit to the Supreme Court, the commission said an earlier order changing the oversight arrangements was never implemented.
The new order sets out the current reporting route for Khanna’s files.
The Election Commission has assigned senior deputy election commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma to oversee IT and grievance work, including files related to the ECINet portal and application.
Under a November 4 work-allocation order, director general of IT Seema Khanna will route files from those divisions through Sharma.
The change follows objections by election commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi to a July work-allocation order issued by senior deputy election commissioner Maneesh Garg.
The Commission told the Supreme Court that the July order was recalled and never implemented.
- Who
- The Election Commission of India; senior deputy election commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma will oversee the divisions.
- What
- The Commission reallocated work, assigning Sharma oversight of IT/ICT and grievance/PGRS divisions. Seema Khanna will route files from those divisions through him.
- When
- The work-allocation order is dated November 4, 2026.
- Where
- India’s Election Commission.
- Why
- The Commission reallocated work in view of the recent appointment of deputy election commissioner Prakash Rajpurohit.
S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi
Election Commission
File routing
S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi
The commissioners objected to Garg changing the routing of IT files and said the allocation was made without consulting them.
Election Commission
The Commission said the July work redistribution was never implemented and oversight of the IT division by a deputy election commissioner was never withdrawn.
Approval of work allocation
S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi
The commissioners said the changes were made without prior approval from the Commission.
Election Commission
A senior Commission official said the November order was a unanimous decision by the poll panel.
Maneesh Garg issued a work-allocation order while officiating as deputy election commissioner for administration.
Election commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi wrote separate letters to cabinet secretary T V Somanathan objecting to the changes.
The Commission issued an order recalling the July 28 changes, which it later told the Supreme Court were never implemented.
The Commission issued a new work-allocation order assigning Pawan Kumar Sharma oversight of IT/ICT and grievance/PGRS.
- New IT oversight
- Senior deputy election commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma
- IT director general
- Seema Khanna
- Divisions covered
- IT/ICT and grievance/PGRS
- New order date
- November 4, 2026
- July order issuer
- Maneesh Garg
2 sources
What people are saying
The work redistribution orders issued by the officer concerned were never implemented after the orders of the two commissioners, and the oversight of the IT division by the DEC was never actually withdrawn.
We can’t call this order a reversal of the July order because the previous order was never implemented