ECI internal differences: Roles of Seema Khanna and Maneesh Garg come under focus

PTC Web Desk: Reports of differences within the Election Commission of India (ECI) have brought the roles of two senior officials, Director General (IT) Seema Khanna and Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, under scrutiny.

The reports come against the backdrop of concerns allegedly raised by Election Commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over certain decisions relating to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the functioning of the ECI's digital platform, ECINET.

According to media reports, both commissioners had raised questions about being left out of consultations on some important administrative and technology-related decisions. The reported concerns have also drawn attention to the functioning of senior officials handling the Commission's IT and administrative responsibilities.

Seema Khanna and ECINET

Seema Khanna, the ECI's Director General (IT), oversees the technology infrastructure used for several electoral services. Her responsibilities include systems involving election registration officers, district election officers and chief electoral officers.

Media reports have alleged that access to the voter database and certain functions on ECINET had become more centralised within the Commission's IT division. Questions were also reportedly raised over restrictions on the access available to Election Registration Officers (EROs), who are generally Sub-Divisional Magistrates, on the digital platform.

Sandhu and Joshi are reported to have separately raised concerns over the issue. Sandhu later reportedly questioned whether the IT division had the legal authority to restrict the statutory powers and access of election officials.

Khanna joined the ECI on deputation in 2025. Before that, she worked with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

She holds BTech and MTech degrees and a doctorate in information security from IIT Delhi. During her earlier stint with MeitY, Khanna was associated with the development and rollout of the AarogyaSetu application, which was widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic for contact tracing, health-related self-assessment and other public health functions.

Why Maneesh Garg is also in focus

Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg is the other official whose role has been highlighted in reports about the internal differences.

Garg reportedly assumed additional administrative responsibilities within the ECI and subsequently made changes to the allocation of work. The reports claim that the changes were made without prior consultation with Sandhu and Joshi.

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One reported change involved the supervision of the DG (IT). The move is said to have prompted objections from the two Election Commissioners, who reportedly approached the Cabinet Secretary seeking appropriate action.

Garg is a 1996-batch IAS officer from the Himachal Pradesh cadre. He joined the ECI on central deputation in September 2024.

In July this year, his position was upgraded from Joint Secretary to Additional Secretary, with his tenure extended until September 1, 2027. His current central deputation is reported to continue until September 2028.

Before joining the ECI, Garg served as the Chief Electoral Officer of Himachal Pradesh in Shimla from June 2022 to September 2024. He had earlier worked as Joint Secretary in the Union Education Ministry's school education department between May 2015 and May 2022.

He has also held several senior positions in Himachal Pradesh, including Divisional Commissioner in Shimla and Dharamsala.