The Election Commission of India (ECI) has extended political neutrality restrictions to retired officials and others re-employed, engaged, or attached to state governments during the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) period in Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where assembly elections are due in 2027.
The letter references ECI instructions from 1984 and 1991 that government employees must not campaign or lend their names, official position or authority to help one party or candidate over another. The ECI’s 2022 pre-poll instructions to the same five states said that officials on extension of service or re-employed in various capacities, other than those in the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, would not be associated with any election-related work. A similar clarification was issued in the January 2019 transfer guidelines.
The letter barred these officials from summoning any election-related officer of a constituency or district where polls have been announced, whether for official discussions, meetings or video conferences. “We noticed that several of these officials keep working with state governments even after retirement. Every election, we used to receive complaints regarding their conduct. It added that the MCC covers organisations, corporations and commissions funded wholly or partly by the government, and that conduct rules bar government servants from political activity. Its fresh letter broadens the scope of those restrictions. The ban on summoning poll officials was framed around ministers. Political parties have questioned the neutrality of retired officials engaged in election-related work. The state government defended his continuation as procedurally compliant. An activist wrote to the ECI arguing the re-engagement order was linked to the previous Cabinet and should not continue once the MCC came into force. Officials argued that governance cannot be paralysed during elections.
It warned that any act of omission or commission contrary to the directions “shall be viewed seriously”. An ECI official said that the decision was taken after internal deliberations. Hence, this time we decided to extend the curbs to them,” the official said. The ECI’s FAQ says no Union or state minister can summon an election-related officer for official discussions. A complaint was lodged against Rajesh Kumar Khullar, a former bureaucrat and the chief minister’s chief principal secretary ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Haryana, alleging “blatant violation” of ECI guidelines on re-employed officials. Ahead of the 2026 polls in Assam, opposition parties questioned the legality of re-engaging a retired officer in a senior post with full administrative and financial powers, calling the appointment “political” and “invalid”.
The ECI has restricted re-employed officials earlier as well.
