Election Commission clarifies no change in IT Chief's supervision

The Election Commission has clarified that the Director General of Information Technology (DG IT), Seema Khanna, continued to work under the supervision of Manish Garg despite an order dated July 28. The July 28 order had instructed her to report directly to the Election Commission. However, under a revised work allocation order, she will now report to the newly appointed Deputy Election Commissioner, Prakash Raj Purohit.

According to a PTI report, a senior official of the Election Commission stated on Thursday that there has been no change in the supervisory structure for the IT Chief. This clarification comes a day after the Election Commission revised the work allocation order on Wednesday. According to the new order, Seema Khanna will now be under the supervision of Deputy Election Commissioner Prakash Raj Purohit instead of Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Manish Garg.

The entire matter arose after the July 28 order, in which Manish Garg had directed Seema Khanna to report directly to the Election Commission (which includes the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners). Garg had issued this order after Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar, to whom Khanna used to report, was transferred to the Delhi Government. Manish Garg had been appointed as the "link officer" for Sanjay Kumar, meaning all of Kumar's responsibilities shifted to Garg after his departure from the Election Commission.

However, Election Commissioners S.S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections to this order, leading to its suspension. Following a report by the Indian Express, the Election Commission issued a press note stating, "The work redistribution orders issued by the concerned officer did not actually come into effect after the orders of two Commissioners, and the supervision of the IT department by the Deputy Election Commissioner (DEC) was never actually withdrawn."

Speaking to PTI, the official further added, "Since the order did not come into effect, Khanna was under the supervision of Manish Garg after Sanjay Kumar left the Election Commission. Now, she will report to Raj Purohit, who joined as Deputy Election Commissioner a few days ago." This clarification was made in response to the question of whether Seema Khanna had been reporting directly to the Commission without the supervision of a Deputy Election Commissioner between July 28 and November 4.

Seema Khanna, an officer from the NIC, is also at the centre of a controversy regarding the alleged centralisation of the digital electoral roll infrastructure and limitations introduced in election software systems. The Election Commission's position is that Khanna continued to work under Garg's supervision after Kumar's departure and will now report to Purohit under the revised allocation of duties.