ECI appoints new Deputy Election Commissioner amid hierarchy concerns

Nirvachan Sadan, the office of the Election Commission of India in New Delhi. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Prakash Rajpurohit, an IAS officer of the 2010 batch, has been appointed as a Deputy Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India (ECI), filling the vacancy caused by the premature repatriation of Sanjay Kumar, who was incharge of the Electoral Rolls and IT division.

What will be the work allocation in the ECI after this new appointment is crucial, as Sanjay Kumar, who had been DEC from August 2024 till August this year, had been responsible for the electoral roll and IT divisions of the ECI, and had signed the ECI’s June 24, 2025, order initiating the SIR in the country.

It is also important because the two Election Commissioners S.S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had written to the Cabinet Secretary on how files of the ECI IT department head Dr. Seema Khanna not being routed through Mr. Kumar, who was a seasoned officer, was a violation.