ECI appoints new Deputy Election Commissioner amid hierarchy concerns

Prakash Rajpurohit, an IAS officer of the 2010 batch, has been appointed as a Deputy Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India (ECI), filling the vacancy caused by the premature repatriation of Sanjay Kumar, who was incharge of the Electoral Rolls and IT division.

What will be the work allocation in the ECI after this new appointment is crucial, as Sanjay Kumar, who had been DEC from August 2024 till August this year, had been responsible for the electoral roll and IT divisions of the ECI, and had signed the ECI’s June 24, 2025, order initiating the SIR in the country.

It is also important because the two Election Commissioners S.S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had written to the Cabinet Secretary on how files of the ECI IT department head Dr. Seema Khanna not being routed through Mr. Kumar, who was a seasoned officer, was a violation.

Dr. Khanna joined the ECI in 2025 on deputation from the National Informatics Centre. She heads the commission’s IT department, and oversees its digital infrastructure, including systems for electoral-roll management.

According to Election Commission sources, before the repatriation of Sanjay Kumar to his parent cadre, Dr. Khanna’s files had been routed through him till she was given a promotion to Level 15, which is equivalent to the rank of an Additional Secretary.

Since Mr. Kumar was of the rank of a Joint Secretary (which is Level 14), Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Manish Garg issued an internal order that Dr. Khanna’s files should go straight to the Election Commissioners from then.

This order was, however, never implemented. Dr. Khanna’s files started being routed through to Maneesh Garg himself following the repatriation of Sanjay Kumar, as he was his link officer, which made him responsible for his departments in his absence.

Mr. Rajpurohit’s appointment was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet late on Saturday as per the order by the Department of Personnel and Training. The Rajasthan-cadre officer has been appointed to the post for a tenure up to April 8, 2030.

With the new addition to the ECI, it remains to be seen what kind of work rejig is affected and whether it addresses the concerns of the two ECs, specially ahead of the crucial Assembly polls scheduled early next year.