Two Election Commissioners filed a complaint against a senior official in a letter, which the Cabinet Secretariat has refused to take action against.

Why did two Election Commissioners write a letter to the Cabinet Secretary?

The Cabinet Secretariat has refused to act on complaints filed by two Election Commissioners against a senior Election Commission official, stating that the letters were sent in their personal capacities and not as official communication on behalf of the Election Commission as a whole.

According to news agency PTI, this information has emerged from documents released under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The secretariat said that taking action without formal communication from the Election Commission may be inappropriate and could be seen as interference in the functioning of a constitutional body.

Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi sent
separate letters to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan on July 29, raising concerns about the functioning of Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Manish Garg. According to documents cited in a PTI report, the complaints alleged that Garg had changed the division of work between Senior Deputy Election Commissioners, Deputy Election Commissioners, Directors General and officers of equivalent rank without consulting the Commission or the relevant officials.

Activist Commodore Lokesh K. Batra (Retd) had filed an RTI. In a note issued in response to the application, the Cabinet Secretariat stated that these messages should be taken seriously but cannot be construed as any formal position on behalf of the Election Commission as a whole. The note stated, "The above messages have come from the Election Commissioners in their individual capacities. While they should be taken with utmost seriousness, they cannot be construed as any formal position on behalf of the Commission as a whole."

questions arose

The Secretariat recommended that both letters be acknowledged and a copy be sent to the Chief Election Commissioner's Principal Private Secretary for information. The matter has also been placed on record for consideration in future decisions involving the officer concerned. This decision by the Cabinet Secretariat has again raised the question as to why Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi approached the Cabinet Secretary instead of resolving the matter through the Election Commission's internal mechanisms.