No Change In Tech Chief Seema Khanna's Reporting Line: Poll Body On New Work Order Amid Row

The Election Commission of India (EC) has said that its director general of information technology, Seema Khanna, will route files of the divisions she heads through senior deputy election commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma. The direction comes in a work allocation order dated November 4. The order takes effect immediately, in partial modification of an office order dated September 23, 2025.

An EC official told NDTV that the work allocation orders were issued as per unanimous decisions of the commission and that "there is no change in the reporting structure of DG (IT)" in terms of hierarchy; "she has always been reporting to a DEC-level officer".

The order comes amid a row over an earlier office order on internal work allocation. Election commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, the two members of the Commission other than Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, had objected to it. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the EC recently said internal work allocation "has been continuing as per the arrangement contained in the earlier Office Order dated 23.09.2025".

It said the office order of July 28, 2026, was issued "by an IAS officer of the rank of Additional Secretary who had been posted on deputation to the Election Commission", and was never implemented. On July 29, the two election commissioners "wrote separate letters to the Cabinet Secretary in relation to this order", the affidavit said. "In view of the joint direction dated 30 July 2026 by the two Election Commissioners, the order of 28 July 2026 was never implemented," the affidavit said.

In a press note issued after The Indian Express reported on the two commissioners' objections in September, the EC said the letter to the cabinet secretary "was not related to any policy matter of the Commission or IT division but related to working of an officer on deputation to ECI". "The work re-distribution 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after the orders of the two Commissioners and the oversight over the IT division by the DEC was never actually withdrawn," the press note said.

On Thursday, the EC also announced a Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls to enrol those left out during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and first-time eligible voters. Draft rolls will be published by November 30. Claims and objections can be filed until December 12 and must be disposed of by January 16, 2027, with final rolls due on January 21, 2027.

The SIR being held since last year across India has been at the centre of a political row, with opposition leaders including former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee naming Khanna in allegations over voter deletions. The Supreme Court upheld the exercise on May 27, 2026, the EC's press note said.