Guwahati: An RTI reply has revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi wrote separately to Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan on July 29, 2026, alleging that a senior Election Commission of India (ECI) official had changed work allocations without informing the commission, despite explicit instructions against such action.
The letters, obtained by transparency activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd.), raise questions about internal oversight and decision-making at the poll body amid the controversy surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. As reported by The Wire, the correspondence also sheds light on the concerns raised by the two commissioners over changes that could affect oversight of the commission’s information technology systems.
Both commissioners named Senior Deputy Election Commissioner (Sr DEC) Maneesh Garg, who was given additional charge of the Administration Division when Deputy Election Commissioner Bhanu Prakash Yeturu went on leave from July 27 to August 9.
According to the letters, Garg issued an order reallocating work among senior deputy election commissioners, deputy election commissioners, director generals and equivalent officers within hours of assuming charge as the link officer for the Administration Division on July 28. The commissioners alleged that he did so without discussing the changes with, or informing, the commission.
Sandhu’s letter stated that the order was issued despite “repeated and explicit oral and written instructions” to officials against making such changes without prior discussion or approval of the commission.
The letter also alleged that Garg allocated work to himself and to officers senior or equivalent to him. Sandhu noted that Garg had issued similar orders earlier while serving as deputy election commissioner in charge of administration.
Sandhu pointed out that Yeturu had not issued any comparable work-allocation order before proceeding on leave. Nor had Yeturu’s designated link officer, Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar, issued such an order, he wrote.
The sudden assignment of the link officer’s charge to Garg on July 28 was followed by the revised work allocation, according to Sandhu’s account.
Sukhbir Singh Sandhu’s letter to the Cabinet Secretary, T.V. Somnathan
The commissioner argued that the action departed from established practice and violated Sections 18(1) and 18(2) of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
The ECI comprises the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners, with decisions taken by majority where required.
Joshi says file was not provided
In a separate letter sent to Somanathan on the same day, Joshi raised similar objections to Garg’s work-allocation order.
Joshi’s letter said the revised allocation had been made without informing the commission. He added that when he sought the relevant file from the Administration Division, it was not provided to him.
Like Sandhu, Joshi alleged that Garg had allocated work to himself and to officers senior or equivalent to him. He also referred to an earlier instance in which Garg had issued a similar order while serving as deputy election commissioner in charge of administration.
Vivek Joshi’s letter to the Cabinet Secretary, T.V. Somnathan
The two letters, now available through the RTI response, provide documentary evidence of the commissioners’ objections to the changes in work allocation and their concerns about the process followed.
Concerns over oversight of ECI’s IT systems
The correspondence follows an investigation by The Indian Express, which reported that the two commissioners had raised concerns about changes that effectively removed a layer of oversight over ECINet, the ECI’s digital platform and IT infrastructure supporting electoral processes.
The report described the letters to the Cabinet Secretary as an unusual departure from normal practice, given that election commissioners had formally escalated internal concerns to a senior government official.
Separately, Hindustan Times reported that Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar, through whom files from the ECI’s Director General of IT were routed, was removed from that arrangement following instructions from Garg. Garg subsequently began overseeing the files, the report said.
The ECI had earlier stated that the instruction to remove Kumar and route the files through Garg had “not actually implemented”. However, Hindustan Times reported that Kumar was repatriated to his home cadre in August and that files from Director General of IT Seema Khanna were routed to the commissioners through Garg.
The Indian Express investigation had also reported that Khanna and the IT department had introduced a system restricting Electoral Registration Officers and Deputy Electoral Registration Officers from accessing the voter database used to add and delete names from electoral rolls.
The latest RTI disclosure adds to the questions surrounding administrative changes at the ECI and the safeguards governing access to its electoral data systems, particularly as the SIR exercise has drawn scrutiny and protests in several parts of the country.
Cabinet Secretary sought CEC’s response
The RTI response records that the Cabinet Secretary acknowledged receipt of Sandhu and Joshi’s letters on August 5.
It further states that Somanathan decided to seek the opinion of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on the issues raised by the two commissioners.
It remains unclear whether the CEC has responded to the Cabinet Secretariat.
