Election Commission Removes Additional Declaration from Form 6 in Completed SIR States

Four days after announcing the decision, the Election Commission, on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, removed the Special Intensive Revision declaration added to the statutory voter enrolment form, Form 6, from its ECINET application portal in states where the SIR has concluded.

The EC had on September 26 announced that 'for non-SIR period, the Forms applicable as per Rules (the Registration of Electors Rules 1960) will be used'. This was after The Indian Express reported last week that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had expressed objections to the addition of the declaration in the Form 6, which can only be amended by the Union Law Ministry.

On Wednesday night, the ECINET portal no longer showed the declaration - which had been inserted in between Sections J and K of the Form 6 online - for the states where the final SIR electoral rolls have been published so far. The declaration was still there for those states where the SIR is still ongoing.

While the EC had rolled out a separate declaration form to be filled along with the Form 6 when it started the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar in 2025, the Form 6 had not been amended. Election Commission's Form 6 The Indian Express reported on July 12 that the online version users can submit on ECINET had a new declaration inserted in between the above two sections.

It asked the applicant to answer whether they or their parents/grandparents were in the last SIR and to provide the booth and serial number, if so. Express Special | EC changes Form 6 for new voters without amendment to rules At the same time, the Form 6 available for download on the EC portal did not have this declaration.

Since the move was without amendment, the two Election Commissioners had objected to the same. Under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, only the central government can amend the voter enrolment, deletion and correction forms. ◆ Express investigation ◆ '14 times in 10 months, two Election Commissioners objected on record to poll panel steps From keeping them in the dark to adding new voters, deleting names, ECs Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi flagged 'unauthorised, illegal' moves.

Read the full story → 'ECs knocked on Cabinet Secretary’s door over voter software integrity Over ten months, from November to August, the two Commissioners said so repeatedly and in writing Read the full story → ‘Illegal, unauthorised’: Election Commissioners objected to Form 6 change The section itself was not marked mandatory, but applicants could not proceed to submit the form without answering it.

Read the full story → ‘Still awaited… urgent’: Goa staff sent 8 emails in 7 days, but EC shut out valid voters For a Goan, being off the roll costs more than a vote: Dialysis to transplants, state health support scheme open only to voters Read the full story → What Election Commission rift reveals: Cloud over its conduct There has been dissent within the Election Commission earlier but this one is very different.

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