Darryl

𝗔𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 -𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗘𝗖 𝗚𝘆𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗞𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗿....𝗪𝗵𝘆 ? 𝗜𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀 ?? On September 23, The Indian Express reported that the two Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu & Vivek Joshi had raised at least 14 objections in 10 months concerning decisions and procedures within the ECI. On July 29, both had separately written to Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan, questioning senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg's conduct and the unilateral reallocation of responsibilities. ◾𝗡𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗖𝗜 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗘𝗖𝗜'𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟰 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿: 🔹 Election Planning, including election scheduling, previously handled by Maneesh Garg, now also involves Deputy Election Commissioner Prakash Rajpurohit. 🔹 Director General (IT) Seema Khanna will route IT and grievance-related files through senior Deputy Election Commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma. 🔹 This comes three months after the internal controversy over the movement of files handled by the ECI's IT chief. ◾𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. The ECI maintains that the disputed July order was never implemented and that IT oversight was never withdrawn. ▪️Then why was such an order issued without prior consultation? ▪️Why did two sitting Election Commissioners have to formally object? ▪️What action was taken on their objections? ▪️And why has the ECI now issued a fresh order explicitly setting out these responsibilities? These are not minor administrative questions. Election scheduling, electoral rolls and IT systems are central to the integrity of our elections. Transparency cannot be demanded from political parties while remaining opaque inside the Election Commission itself.