Prakash Rajpurohit appointed Deputy Election Commissioner, term till April 8, 2030

The Centre has appointed Prakash Rajpurohit, a senior IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, as Deputy Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India. He will hold the post until April 8, 2030. The appointment comes at a time when the political climate across the country is heated over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment. According to the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), his tenure in the post will run until April 8, 2030. His appointment is reportedly part of a large administrative reshuffle of 27 joint secretary and equivalent-level officers approved by the Centre.

Rajpurohit is a 2010-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Rajasthan cadre. He hails from Barmer district of Rajasthan. He holds a B.Tech degree in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi.

After joining the administrative service, he held several important posts in Rajasthan. He has served as district collector of large districts such as Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer and Alwar. This experience in district administration has given him a good understanding of administrative work.

Before joining the Election Commission, Rajpurohit had been working since May 2026 as joint secretary in the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence. He was on deputation with the Centre. He has now been given an important responsibility connected with the country's election machinery.

Rajpurohit will replace former Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar. Sanjay Kumar looked after the work of the electoral rolls and information technology division. He was sent back to his parent Rajasthan cadre in August, before his tenure was complete, after which he was posted with the Delhi government. The post in the Commission had been vacant since August.

It is worth noting that Sanjay Kumar had signed the important order the Election Commission issued on June 24, 2025, on starting the SIR process across the country.

A political controversy over the SIR process is currently under way in the country. Against this backdrop, the Opposition is levelling allegations of "vote chori" against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Along with opposition parties, the CJP is also demanding his resignation.

Differences had reportedly arisen earlier within the Commission over the functioning of its IT division. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi are said to have strongly objected to the way the division worked, in internal discussions. Amid these differences, the IT division's responsibility was taken back from Sanjay Kumar in July, and in August he was sent back to his parent cadre.

After handling varied responsibilities, from district administration in Rajasthan to the Centre's Department of Defence Production, Rajpurohit will now work in the Election Commission. Attention will be on how he performs his new role in the revision of electoral rolls, election planning and IT-related work.