An RTI reply confirms that the letters from Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi reached the Cabinet Secretariat. Their contents remain undisclosed.

Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi wrote to the Cabinet Secretary over a disputed work-allocation order, and not to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply obtained by India Today. The reply confirms the paper trail but does not disclose what the letters say.

What the RTI reply confirms

The reply is dated October 19 and responds to an application filed on September 24. It confirms that two letters, one from Sandhu and one from Joshi, both dated July 29, reached the Cabinet Secretariat.

The letters were logged on July 30. The Cabinet Secretary forwarded them to officials of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and to the CEC’s office by August 5.

Why the contents are still secret

The Cabinet Secretariat withheld the two 10-page letters, two pages of replies and two pages of file notings because a fee of Rs 28 was pending. The letters’ contents have therefore not been made public.

The dispute behind the letters

The Indian Express reported that both commissioners objected to a July 28 work-allocation order and then wrote to the Cabinet Secretary, calling it a violation of provisions of the 2023 Act. Reports say the order affected supervision of the Commission’s IT infrastructure.

The two commissioners later jointly set aside the order and directed that the previous allocation continue until the Commission reached a consensus on any change.

The Election Commission’s position

On September 26, the Commission said the letter to the Cabinet Secretary was not about any policy matter or the IT division, but about the working of an officer on deputation. It also said the redistribution orders were not actually implemented after the two commissioners’ orders, and that the CEC’s oversight of the IT division was never withdrawn.

Wider context

The row comes amid scrutiny of reported differences among the Commission’s three members. The Indian Express reported that Sandhu and Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions made in the name of the poll panel. The Commission acknowledged the objections but called them part of its normal decision-making process, and said its decisions, including on the Special Intensive Revision, were unanimous.

What is still unknown

What the letters actually say, what the Cabinet Secretary’s reply was, and what DoPT did after receiving them have not been made public. Neither commissioner has spoken publicly about the letters in the reports available so far.