Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi | Dissent in the Election Commission
The two Election Commissioner, both appointed by the government under the new 2023 law, have raised questions about changes to electoral rolls, centralised control and the Election Commission’s decision-making process
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Context
Two recently appointed Election Commissioners (ECs), Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, have issued formal dissent notes regarding the Election Commission of India's (ECI) functioning. They highlighted concerns over the centralisation of electoral rolls, unauthorised changes to statutory forms without amending the , and restricted access for State-level election officials to the ERONet portal. This internal rift brings the appointment process and internal functioning of the ECI, governed by the new , into sharp focus.
UPSC Perspectives
Polity
The controversy highlights the constitutional framework governing the (). The internal rift brings attention to the (carried into the 2023 Act), which mandates that decisions be unanimous where possible, but otherwise by majority vote, with the having equal voting weight, not a veto. The dissent notes suggest a breakdown in this consensus-building process. Furthermore, the allegations of unauthorised changes to Form 6 raise questions about the legal authority of the ECI to alter statutory forms without amending the underlying . This situation provides a case study for UPSC on the balance of power within constitutional bodies and the legal limits of their rule-making authority.
Governance
The dissent over centralisation of the electoral roll (via the ERONet portal) touches upon the federal structure of election management. The ECs flagged that State-level officials, including , were denied "proper and complete access" to the database. The Goa case, where ERO decisions mandated by the were nullified by central software limitations, exemplifies the friction between central control and decentralized statutory authority. From a governance perspective, this illustrates the challenges of implementing national digital infrastructure (like ERONet) while respecting the statutory roles of lower-level officials. UPSC aspirants should analyze this as a tension between administrative centralisation and statutory decentralisation in electoral governance.
Polity (Appointment Process)
The article emphasizes that both dissenting ECs were appointed under the , which replaced the convention-based system. Crucially, the 2023 Act removed the automatic succession of the senior-most EC to the position of CEC; every vacancy, including the CEC, now requires a fresh appointment process through a selection committee. The fact that government-handpicked appointees are dissenting challenges the notion that the new appointment law automatically leads to a pliant Commission. This scenario is highly relevant for Mains questions evaluating the impact of the 2023 Act on the independence and functioning of the ECI, particularly concerning the removal of the seniority convention for CEC appointments.