Appointment of new Deputy Election Commissioner puts ECI work hierarchy in focus

1. At a Glance

• Prakash Rajpurohit, an IAS officer of the 2010 batch, has been appointed Deputy Election Commissioner (DEC) in the Election Commission of India (ECI). He fills the vacancy left when Sanjay Kumar was sent back to his parent cadre before his term ended. [1]
• This appointment matters because of how files and work are routed inside the ECI. The Electoral Rolls and IT division Kumar headed sits at the centre of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. [1]
• For UPSC: the topic covers the gap between the constitutional Commission and its administrative secretariat. It also brings in the independence of the ECI under Article 324, the CEC & Other ECs Act, 2023, and current SIR litigation. [1][2][3][6]

2. Why in the News

• 12 Oct 2026: The Hindu reported Rajpurohit's appointment as DEC. It said the ECI's work allocation after this appointment is "crucial". [1]
• Sanjay Kumar was DEC from August 2024 to August 2026. He headed the Electoral Rolls and IT division and signed the ECI's 24 June 2025 order that started the SIR. [1]
• Election Commissioners S.S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi wrote to the Cabinet Secretary. They said it was a violation that files of IT Department head Dr. Seema Khanna were not being routed through Kumar, a senior and experienced officer. [1]
• Senior DEC Manish Garg had issued an internal order that Dr. Khanna's files should go directly to a higher authority (the source text is cut off here). This followed her promotion to Level 15. [1]
• Related hook: in October 2026 the Supreme Court is examining how far the ECI's powers in the SIR extend, in the "Form 6" voter-enrolment dispute. [6]

3. Background & Evolution

• Constitutional origin: Article 324 gives the Election Commission the superintendence, direction and control of preparing electoral rolls and conducting elections to Parliament and State Legislatures. [2]
• Under Article 324, the President appoints the CEC and the other Election Commissioners, subject to any law Parliament makes. [2]
• 2023: Parliament passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 (Act No. 49 of 2023). Appointments are now made on the recommendation of a Selection Committee. [3][4]
• August 2024: Sanjay Kumar joined the ECI as DEC. [1]
• 24 June 2025: the ECI order starting the SIR was issued, signed by DEC Sanjay Kumar. [1]
• 2025: Dr. Seema Khanna joined the ECI on deputation from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to head its IT Department. [1]
• 14 May 2026: the ECI ordered the SIR in 16 States and 3 UTs, citing Article 324 and Section 21 of the RP Act, 1950. [5]
• August 2026: Kumar was sent back to his parent cadre early. October 2026: Rajpurohit was appointed DEC. [1]

4. Core Static Facts

ECI hierarchy (as seen in this episode) [1]

• The Commission: the CEC plus Election Commissioners (e.g., S.S. Sandhu, Vivek Joshi).
• Senior Deputy Election Commissioner: e.g., Manish Garg, who issues internal orders.
• Deputy Election Commissioners: IAS officers on deputation, each in charge of divisions such as Electoral Rolls & IT. Kumar held the Joint Secretary rank (Level 14).
• Department heads: e.g., the IT Department head (from NIC, promoted to Level 15).

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Legal / Constitutional

• Article 324 names only the CEC and the ECs. The secretariat (DECs and department heads) works under the Commission's superintendence, direction and control. [2]
• The 2023 Act gives the government a majority on the Selection Committee. PRS notes this may undermine the ECI's independence. [3]
• SIR litigation is testing whether the ECI can use its Article 324 powers to add declarations to enrolment forms without amending the statutory rules. [6]

Administrative

• Officers come to the ECI on deputation (IAS, NIC). Repatriations and promotions can therefore change the chain of command in the middle of an exercise. Kumar's early repatriation happened during the SIR period. [1][5]
• Rank versus role: once the IT head moved to Level 15, she outranked her DEC supervisor (Level 14). Her files were then routed around him. [1]
• The Electoral Rolls and IT divisions run the digital systems used to manage electoral rolls, which are central to the SIR. [1]

Ethical / Governance

• Two Election Commissioners took an internal dispute to the Cabinet Secretary, an executive authority. This raises questions about how the Commission settles its own internal matters. [1]
• Clear, documented routing of files decides accountability for decisions on electoral rolls. This matters more when SIR orders are being challenged in court. [1][6]

Technological

• The ECI's IT Department, headed by an NIC officer, runs the digital infrastructure for managing electoral rolls. Data integrity therefore depends on clear oversight lines. [1]

Democratic / Social

• The SIR's stated aim is that no eligible citizen is left out and no ineligible person is included. Weak administration could put enrolment at risk for vulnerable groups. [5]

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 14 May 2026: the ECI ordered the SIR in 16 States and 3 UTs under Article 324 and Section 21 of the RP Act, 1950. [5]
• August 2026: DEC Sanjay Kumar's term ended early when he was repatriated to his parent cadre. [1]
• Before the repatriation: ECs Sandhu and Joshi wrote to the Cabinet Secretary about the IT head's files bypassing Kumar. [1]
• October 2026: in the Form 6 dispute, the Supreme Court said "any modified Form 6 has not been approved by us". It has not held the SIR illegal at this stage. [6]
• 12 October 2026: Prakash Rajpurohit (IAS, 2010) was reported as the new DEC. [1]

7. Prelims Hooks

• The ECI's power of superintendence, direction and control over elections comes from Article 324. [2]
• Article 324 covers elections to Parliament and State Legislatures, and the preparation of electoral rolls for them. [2]
• The CEC and ECs are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a Selection Committee (2023 Act). [3]
• Selection Committee: PM, LoP in Lok Sabha, and a Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM. The CJI is not a member. [3]
• CEC/EC salary equals that of a Supreme Court Judge (2023 Act). [3]
• The CEC can be removed only like a Supreme Court Judge. Other ECs can be removed only on the CEC's recommendation. [3]
• The CEC & Other ECs Act is Act No. 49 of 2023. [4]
• The statutory basis for SIR is Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (not the 1951 Act). [5]
• The May 2026 SIR order covered 16 States and 3 UTs. [5]
• Pay Level 15 is equivalent to Additional Secretary. Level 14 is equivalent to Joint Secretary. [1]
• The ECI's IT Department head came on deputation from the National Informatics Centre (NIC). [1]
• The Deputy Election Commissioner is a secretariat post filled by deputed officers (e.g., IAS). It is not one of the commissioners under Article 324. [1][2]

8. Why a Quarrel Over Files Is Really About Independence

• The Commission is independent on paper, but its staff are not
• Article 324 protects only the CEC and the Election Commissioners [2]. The officers who actually do the daily work are on deputation (lent for a fixed period) from the IAS or from bodies like NIC [1].
• Their promotions and their return to the parent cadre are decided outside the ECI. A promotion to Level 15 is what upset the chain of command here [1].

• So the ECI can lose a key officer, or see its internal ranking flipped, through decisions it does not fully control.

• The Election Commissioners asked the government to settle an internal matter

• EC Sandhu and EC Joshi wrote to the Cabinet Secretary, the top civil servant of the Union government [1].
• This shows the Commission has no clear internal rulebook for this kind of dispute, so the executive ends up acting as referee.

• The ECI itself warned about this risk in 2008. It asked that its secretariat officers be protected from executive interference in their appointments and promotions [7].

• Why the timing matters

• The Electoral Rolls and IT division runs the SIR [1], and SIR orders are now under Supreme Court review [6].
• If it is unclear who cleared a file, it becomes hard to fix responsibility when a court asks who decided what.

9. A Fix Proposed for Decades and Still Not Made

• Two expert bodies and the ECI itself have asked for an independent secretariat
• The Goswami Committee and the ECI both recommended a separate secretariat for the ECI, like the ones Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, the Supreme Court and the High Courts have [3].

• The Law Commission's 244th and 255th reports (the 255th is titled "Electoral Reforms", 2015) recommended strengthening the ECI's office, mainly to make it more independent [8].

• The Supreme Court backed the idea but left it to Parliament

• In 2023 the Court noted how much the ECI needs an independent secretariat [3].

• In Anoop Baranwal (2023) it did not order one. It also did not order that ECI spending be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India (money Parliament does not vote on each year). It said these were matters for Parliament and government policy [10].

• The 2023 Act did not address the secretariat

• The Act deals only with the appointment, service conditions and term of the CEC and the ECs [4].
• The DEC and department-head posts at the centre of this episode are not covered by any statutory protection.

10. How Parliament and the Supreme Court Protect Their Own Staff

• The Supreme Court controls its own officers and its own money
• Under Article 146, the Chief Justice of India, or someone the CJI chooses, appoints the Supreme Court's officers and staff [11].

• The Court's administrative expenses are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India, so the government cannot hold them back through the yearly budget vote [11].

• What this means for the ECI

• The Goswami Committee wanted the ECI's secretariat to follow this model [3].
• Under that model, the ECI, not the IAS cadre or NIC, would decide postings, promotions and seniority inside the Commission. A rank clash like the Level 14 vs Level 15 one would be settled inside the Commission [1].

11. The Selection Panel Fight Is Also Unsettled

• Both the top and the bottom of the ECI are now in question
• In May 2026 the Supreme Court said the EC must be independent, because free and fair elections are part of the basic structure of the Constitution [12].

• In September 2026 a Supreme Court bench gave a split verdict on the 2023 law that took the CJI off the selection panel [9].

• Why aspirants should link the two

• Debate on ECI independence usually looks only at who appoints the Commissioners.
• This episode shows that even well-protected Commissioners depend on borrowed staff for their daily work. A strong Mains answer should discuss both levels.

12. The Case for Borrowed Officers, and Where It Falls Short

• The strongest argument for keeping deputation
• Elections are run by officers from the Centre and the States. Officers on deputation bring field experience and know how the government machinery works.

• A permanent ECI cadre could become closed and slow to change, and it would answer to no outside service.

• What this argument gets right

• The ECI will always need State officers on the ground at election time. Nobody, including the Goswami Committee, has asked it to run elections on its own staff alone [3].

• Where it falls short

• The issue is not field staff. It is the small headquarters team that handles electoral rolls and IT for a national exercise like the SIR [1][5].
• At that level, a sudden repatriation or a promotion decided elsewhere can disrupt the work midway. That is exactly what happened here [1].
• A mixed model can keep deputation for field work and give the ECI full control over postings and seniority at headquarters.

13. What Should Be Done, and by Whom

• Parliament: create a statutory ECI secretariat
• Do what the Goswami Committee and the ECI's 2008 proposals asked for: a secretariat whose officers are protected from executive interference in appointments and promotions [3][7].

• Charge its expenses on the Consolidated Fund, as Article 146 does for the Supreme Court [11].

• ECI: publish written work-allocation rules now

• The Commission can do this today without any new law. A clear order on who reports to whom when ranks change would stop file routing from depending on one-off internal orders [1].

• Internal disputes should go to the full Commission, headed by the CEC, not to the Cabinet Secretary [1].

• Union government and ECI: freeze key postings during big exercises

• Officers who head the Rolls and IT divisions should not be repatriated while an SIR is running in 16 States and 3 UTs [5].
• This keeps one clear owner for every decision that may later be examined in court [6].

14. Anchors for Answers

• Data: the SIR order of May 2026 covers 16 States and 3 UTs. This is the exercise whose headquarters division lost its DEC partway through [5][1]
• Report/Committee: Goswami Committee (independent ECI secretariat) [3]; Law Commission 244th and 255th Reports (2015, Electoral Reforms) [8]; ECI's Proposed Electoral Reforms (2008), which asked that secretariat staff be protected from executive interference [7]
• Law/Case: Article 324; Article 146 (Supreme Court staff and expenses as a model) [11]; Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023), where the Court declined to order an independent secretariat and left it to Parliament [10]; the CEC & Other ECs Act, 2023 [4]; the Supreme Court's split verdict on the 2023 Act (Sept 2026) [9]
• Comparison: the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Supreme Court and High Courts each have their own secretariat; the ECI does not [3]

15. Mains Relevance

• GS-II: Appointment to various constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of constitutional bodies; Salient features of the Representation of People's Act.
• GS-II: Separation of powers and dispute-redressal mechanisms; Transparency and accountability in governance.
• GS-IV (supplementary): Integrity and accountability in public institutions.
• Possible question stems: 1. "The independence of the Election Commission depends as much on its internal administrative architecture as on the method of appointing Commissioners." Discuss in light of recent developments. (15 marks) 2. Critically examine whether the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023 strengthens or weakens the institutional autonomy of the ECI. (10 marks) 3. The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls raises questions about the scope of the ECI's plenary powers under Article 324. Analyse. (15 marks)

16. Related Topics to Study Next

• Article 324 and the plenary powers of the ECI: the source of both SIR orders and the ECI's internal authority.
• CEC & Other ECs Act, 2023: the appointment, salary and removal framework, and the independence debate.
• Special Intensive Revision (SIR): the exercise at the centre of the Rolls and IT division's work.
• Representation of the People Act, 1950 (Section 21): the statutory power to revise electoral rolls.
• Form 6 / voter-enrolment litigation in the Supreme Court: the judicial limits on ECI action.
• Deputation and the Central Staffing Scheme / pay levels (7th CPC matrix): explains the Level 14 vs Level 15 hierarchy conflict.
• National Informatics Centre and electoral IT systems: the technology behind electoral-roll management.
• Other constitutional and statutory bodies (CAG, UPSC, CIC): for comparing appointment and removal safeguards.

17. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Election Commission of India (Polity): Article 324 body whose internal secretariat hierarchy and independence are the article's central subject.
• Special Intensive Revision (Polity): The Rolls and IT division's work centres on this exercise, which is also under Supreme Court scrutiny.
• Election Commissioners (Polity): Two Election Commissioners wrote to the Cabinet Secretary; DECs are secretariat officers, not commissioners, a common exam trap.
• Chief Election Commissioner (Polity): Covers 2023 Act appointment, tenure and removal like a Supreme Court judge, which are likely exam questions.
• Representation of the People Act 1950 (Polity): Section 21 of this Act is the statutory basis for revising electoral rolls in the SIR.
• Central Staffing Scheme (Polity): Explains how IAS officers come to the ECI on deputation, and why repatriation changes the hierarchy mid-exercise.

18. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• DEC vs EC: the Deputy Election Commissioner is a secretariat officer on deputation, not a member of the Commission under Article 324. [1][2]
• Selection Committee composition: aspirants often include the CJI. Under the 2023 Act the members are the PM, the LoP (Lok Sabha) and a Cabinet Minister. [3]
• Removal safeguard: only the CEC has removal protection on par with a Supreme Court judge. Other ECs are removed on the CEC's recommendation. [3]
• RP Act, 1950 vs 1951: electoral-roll revision (Section 21) falls under the 1950 Act. [5]
• Pay levels: Level 15 is Additional Secretary, not Joint Secretary (that is Level 14). [1]
• The SIR has not been struck down: the Supreme Court has questioned the modified Form 6 but has not held the SIR illegal so far. [6]