EC says poll commissioners' letters to Cabinet Secretary not over policy matter, but 'related to...'
The Election Commission on Saturday clarified that the letters sent to Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi were not related to any policy matter of the commission or its IT division. According to the Commission, the letter was sent regarding the functioning of an officer on deputation to the ECI.
The Election Commission held a key meet on Saturday amid the ongoing row over differences between the two Election Commissioners and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
In a press note, released after the meeting, the poll body said, "The work redistribution orders issued by the concerned officer were not actually implemented after the orders of the two Commissioners and the oversight over the IT division by the DEC was never actually withdrawn."
The clarification comes after a report by The Indian Express, based on internal documents and interviews, said Sandhu and Joshi had separately written to the Cabinet Secretary over changes in work allocation. The report said the two commissioners had objected to changes that they believed reduced their oversight of the IT systems managing electoral rolls.
What is the row about
The issue centres on ECINet, which the ECI launched on January 22 as a unified technology platform bringing more than 40 applications and portals under one system. At its launch, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the platform had been built in accordance with the law, while Director General (IT) Seema Khanna said it would “enhance transparency, credibility and public trust”.
The Indian Express report, however, said concerns were later raised over the access available to state-level election officials responsible for updating electoral rolls. Sandhu and Joshi reportedly flagged what Joshi described as the “gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database” and questioned whether ECINet was restricting the statutory powers of officers responsible for preparing and finalising voter lists.
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The two commissioners reportedly raised their concerns on multiple occasions and also copied their notes to CEC Gyanesh Kumar. Joshi had proposed an audit involving an outside IIT expert to verify that only the concerned statutory authorities had credentials to make changes to the voter database. Sandhu, meanwhile, questioned the centralisation of access control and sought full access for statutory authorities.
What Election Commission said
Addressing the issue in its key meet on Saturday, the Election Commission said, "Field officers have role-based access to the ECINET system as per their statutory powers. A Committee headed by Sr Deputy Election Commissioner (DEC) and including an independent expert from IIT/IIIT will review the ECINET to double-check that it complies with the provisions of the Acts and Rules and submit report to the Commission."
The Election Commission said several upgradations have already been made to the portal based on the inputs from State CEOs over the past few months. "In case, any further flexibility is required by the field officers, that will be made operational. Henceforth, all the new initiatives about IT modules and portals will be discussed in the Committee of Officers (COO) before approval by the Commission." it said.
The ECI has maintained that ECINet is a decentralised platform and that statutory functions remain with designated officials in the field. It said Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), District Election Officers (DEOs) and Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) perform their respective functions through individual IDs and passwords. “No one else can perform their statutory function on ECINet, including any other officer of the ECI,” news agency PTI quoted an official as saying on Thursday.
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