Election Commission tells Supreme Court ::::: Form 6 unchanged, online SIR form and declaration separated from Oct 21 ::::::: Poll panel Acted ‘unanimously’ on electoral roll revision orders

Acted ‘unanimously’ on electoral roll revision orders: 

Election Commission tells Supreme Court

The affidavit talks about the fact that the two Election Commissioners had written separately to Union Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan regarding an internal work allocation order.  

The Election Commission told the Supreme Court that Form 6 was not amended and the SIR declaration was a separate document. 

It admitted that displaying the declaration alongside the form online could suggest otherwise, but said the two were separated from October 21 for online applicants.

In what is seen as an 'admission', the poll panel acknowledged that the way the declaration was displayed online could be construed as an amendment, and said it had separated the two in the online application process from October 21.  

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the EC maintained that only the central government has the authority to amend Form 6, which is prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The SIR declaration, it said, was a separate document and had not been incorporated into the statutory form.

The commission explained that the declaration was displayed alongside Form 6 on the online application portal to allow applicants to complete the process using a single one-time password (OTP) and electronic signature.   

The EC's affidavit was filed in response to a petition by Rakesh Kumar Singh, who challenged the changes to Form 6 and raised concerns over the functioning of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Supreme Court had issued notices to the EC, the CEC and other officials.

The separate declaration, introduced by the EC during the SIR exercise, had been at the centre of a controversy. It required applicants seeking inclusion in the electoral rolls to state whether their own name, or that of a parent or grandparent, appeared in an earlier SIR-era electoral roll. Critics argued that the requirement could create an additional hurdle for first-time voters, particularly those whose families did not figure in the older rolls.

The issue had earlier come up before the Supreme Court on October 5, when Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the court had not approved any modified version of Form 6 and wanted to examine the Election Commission's records to ascertain who had made the changes.

The observation followed an EC statement on September 26 claiming that the declaration attached to Form 6 for the SIR had been upheld by the top court. The commission was referring to the court's May 27 judgment upholding its authority to conduct the Bihar SIR, which had been ordered on June 24, 2025.

The June 24, 2025 order was the EC's directive launching the SIR exercise in Bihar. It required applicants seeking fresh voter registration to submit Form 6 along with an additional declaration, called Annexure D, linking themselves or their parents to the previous electoral rolls, dating back to 2002.

The poll panel has removed the additional declaration from online Form 6 in states and Union Territories where the SIR exercise has been completed. The requirement, however, continues in places where the revision is still underway.