New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aware of changes made to the Election Commission’s ECINET software, as a complaint by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had reached the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which comes under the Prime Minister’s charge.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that since the Prime Minister is the minister in charge of the department, “the PM is aware of all this and it is likely taking place on his direction”. The Congress leader also accused the Election Commission of retaining an officer at the centre of the reported dispute over the functioning of its information technology division, and subsequently entrusting the same official with supervision of the division whose functioning had prompted objections from the two Election Commissioners.
Ramesh cites reported complaint
In a statement, Ramesh cited a report in a leading national daily and alleged that, instead of facing action, “the officer about whom the two Election Commissioners had complained to the Cabinet Secretary in July 2026 continues to be the key pivot in the Election Commission”.
Ramesh further alleged that the officer’s continued role in the IT division reflected an attempt to centralise control over the electoral system.
“It appears that the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the PM himself have kept the particular officer in place to retain their centralised control over the entire system,” he said.
Differences over IT division
The allegations come amid reported differences within the three-member Election Commission over the functioning of its IT division and access to the ECINET electoral-roll system, which is used for managing voter registration and electoral rolls.
Ramesh claimed that the complaint to the Cabinet Secretary was prompted by an order issued by the officer that removed oversight of the IT division and allowed it to function without adequate transparency.
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He further alleged that the officer was given responsibility for overseeing the IT division from August, despite the earlier objections.
Congress questions ECI clarification
“So, the ECI’s deceptive clarification in its press note released on September 26, 2026, was to hide the real story,” Ramesh said.
The issue is significant because the IT division’s control over access to the electoral-roll database has implications for the respective roles of the Commission and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).
