New Delhi: An unusual instance of internal friction within the Election Commission of India (ECI) has come to the forefront. Documents accessed through the Right to Information (RTI) Act have revealed that two Election Commissioners independently wrote to the Cabinet Secretary to lodge a formal complaint regarding the functioning of a senior official within the apex poll body.
According to the recent RTI disclosures, Election Commissioners Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi sent separate official communications to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan on July 29, 2026. In their respective letters, the two top officials raised strong objections against the administrative decisions and the working style of a senior ECI functionary, seeking appropriate intervention and action.
The primary grievance highlighted in the letters pertains to Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Manish Garg. The Election Commissioners pointed out that Garg had issued an internal order that significantly altered the distribution of work and responsibilities among senior ECI officials. According to the complaint, these major administrative changes were executed unilaterally, without initiating any prior discussion with the Election Commission or the specific officials whose portfolios were affected by the reshuffle.
The revelation of these letters brings to light the ongoing administrative differences and questions surrounding the decision-making protocol at the highest levels of the electoral watchdog. Institutional norms generally dictate that significant reassignments in work allocation among senior bureaucrats within the ECI be thoroughly deliberated before implementation.
This development follows a broader narrative of alleged internal disagreements within the Election Commission. As previously reported in the media on September 23, the two Election Commissioners had officially recorded their objections on 14 different occasions over a span of 10 months. These prior objections were largely focused on sensitive procedural steps, including the processes for adding new voters and removing names from the electoral rolls. Additionally, concerns regarding the overall reliability and integrity of the voter database had also been brought to the attention of the Cabinet Secretary in the past.
The latest RTI revelations have intensified public scrutiny over the internal communications and consensus-building mechanisms of the ECI, a constitutional body tasked with maintaining the democratic framework of the country. Neither the Election Commission nor the Cabinet Secretariat has issued a public statement addressing the latest RTI findings as of now.