The Election Commission has removed an additional Special Intensive Revision (SIR)-related declaration from online Form 6 in states and Union Territories where the electoral roll revision exercise has been completed. The change was made on the ECINET portal on Wednesday, days after the full Commission clarified that the additional requirement was applicable only during the SIR exercise.
Form 6 is the statutory application used by eligible citizens to seek inclusion in the electoral roll. With the additional declaration removed, new applicants in states where SIR has concluded will now only have to submit the standard Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
The declaration had required applicants to provide details linking themselves, their parents or grandparents to electoral rolls prepared during an earlier intensive revision. The requirement continues to appear on ECINET in states and UTs where SIR is still underway.
The Commission had clarified its position at a September 26 meeting attended by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. It said: “For non-SIR period, the Forms applicable as per Rules (the Registration of Electors Rules 1960) will be used.”
The issue had triggered controversy after Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi reportedly objected to the changes made to the online Form 6, arguing that the statutory form could not be altered without an amendment to the relevant rules.
The Commission has maintained that Form 6 itself was never amended and that the additional declaration was a separate, SIR-specific requirement. The September 26 clarification came after The Indian Express reported that Sandhu and Joshi had raised objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months concerning decisions related to SIR and electoral-roll management. The Commission, however, said that the SIR orders had received the “unanimous approval of the Commission.”
