EC says IT chief Seema Khanna was never placed under direct Commission oversight

The Election Commission of India has clarified that there has been no change in the supervisory arrangement for its Director General of Information Technology, Seema Khanna, following a revision of work responsibilities within the poll body.

A senior Election Commission official told news agency PTI that Khanna had continued to work under the supervision of Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Manish Garg even after an order issued on July 28 proposed a change in her reporting structure. Under the latest work allocation order, issued on Wednesday, she will now report to newly appointed Deputy Election Commissioner Prakash Raj Purohit.

The clarification followed questions about whether Khanna had been reporting directly to the Election Commission, comprising the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners, between July 28 and November 4.

Garg had issued an order on July 28 asking Khanna to report directly to the Commission. The decision came after Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar, under whose supervision Khanna had been working, was transferred to the Delhi government.

However, Election Commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections to the arrangement. The order was subsequently kept in abeyance.

In a press note issued after a report by The Indian Express, the poll body maintained that the proposed changes were never implemented and that supervision of the IT division by a Deputy Election Commissioner had remained in place.

“The work redistribution orders issued by the concerned officer were not actually implemented following the orders of the two Commissioners, and oversight of the IT division by the DEC was never actually withdrawn,” the Election Commission said.

A senior official told PTI that Garg continued to supervise Khanna after Sanjay Kumar’s departure because he had been designated as Kumar’s link officer.

“Since the order was not implemented, Khanna was supervised by Garg after Sanjay Kumar moved out of the EC. Now, she will report to Raj Purohit, who joined as deputy EC a few days ago,” the official said.

Garg’s designation as link officer meant that he took over Sanjay Kumar’s assigned responsibilities following his transfer.

With the latest redistribution of duties, Purohit will assume supervisory responsibility for the IT division.

Khanna, an officer of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), has also been at the centre of controversy over alleged centralisation of digital electoral roll infrastructure and restrictions within election software systems.