Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan and Modi also accountable

Was the Election Commission's actions solely its own or influenced by others?

Was what happened in the Election Commission regarding SIR something that the Election Commission did itself, or was it done by someone else, or was it someone else's desire?

The Indian Express reporter Ritika Chopra wrote a report on September 23, detailing how the Election Commission is not functioning independently and autonomously. The Commission should operate with the Indian democracy in mind, as stipulated by our Constitution. According to the report, who is ultimately responsible for the allegations made by both Election Commissioners?

According to Ritika's report,

Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu wrote to the Cabinet Secretary twice in one day. The first letter was written on July 29, 2026, in which he complained that the distribution of work among the officials working in the Election Commission was changed without the Commission's knowledge.

One of the tasks of the Election Commission was to maintain internal oversight over its IT division. The officer responsible for this was Sanjay Kumar. However, on July 28, 2026, a senior Deputy Election Commissioner named Manish Garg was given charge of the Commission's administration, and he immediately removed Sanjay Kumar from this responsibility without consulting the Commissioners. Who appointed Manish Garg for this task? The Cabinet Secretary did. Sandhu and other Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi wrote separate letters to the Cabinet Secretary objecting to this, stating that it violated the law under which the Election Commission operates, and also called for action against Manish Garg.

However, nothing happened because Manish Garg was perhaps given additional charge of administration to carry out such actions. The result of what Manish Garg did was that all files from the IT division that generally came to Sandhu and Joshi for oversight stopped coming! This means that the information regarding whatever the Election Commission was doing about SIR was now not available to the two Commissioners, as this provision was made in the administration. Although Sandhu and Joshi annulled Manish Garg's order on July 30, the question remains as to why the Cabinet Secretary Somanathan did this?

On the other hand, on August 14, 2026, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu wrote a letter stating that the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), District Electoral Officer (DEO), and Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) are all statutory officers, but they do not have access to the Election Commission's IT system! This means that those who do have access are in direct contact with the Cabinet Secretary, and have no dealings with the Election Commission! So how can it be said that the Election Commission is working independently?

Who oversees the Election Commission's IT system? That is Dr. Seema Khanna. This means that although she is the head of the IT department in the Election Commission, she is not responsible; she reports her work to the Cabinet Secretary. And the Cabinet Secretary reports to the Prime Minister.

Now, understand who the Cabinet Secretary is. The Cabinet Secretary is the highest executive officer of the Government of India and the senior-most civil servant. The Cabinet Secretary is the ex-officio head of the Civil Service Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, and the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and all civil services in India operate under the rules of government functioning. The Cabinet Secretary is the highest cadre position in the Indian Administrative Service. The Cabinet Secretary works directly under the Prime Minister.

It should also be noted that the Cabinet Secretary is a position above that of the Chief Secretary, i.e., the Principal Secretary. There is no one above them in the administration of the Government of India. The Principal Secretary comes in second.

Today, the Cabinet Secretary is T. V. Somanathan. He was appointed to this position in August 2024. This means that whatever happened in the Election Commission regarding SIR or its IT division was done by the current Cabinet Secretary T. V. Somanathan, who was appointed by Narendra Modi himself and works directly with the Prime Minister. Thus, Narendra Modi is directly responsible for whatever has been happening in the Election Commission regarding SIR since 2025.