ECI’s stand that additional declaration is not part of Form 6 comes days after SC said it will examine ‘new’ Form 6

ECI’s stand that additional declaration is not part of Form 6 comes days after SC said it will examine ‘new’ Form 6 left Image used for representation purpose only The Hindu The Hindu ALLEN EGENUSE J BENGALURU KARNATAKA 03/07/2026: Booth Level Officer (BLO) hands over an Enumeration Form to residents of RT Nagar during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)–2026 drive in Bengaluru on July 03, 2026.

PHOTO: ALLEN EGENUSE J / The Hindu The ECI has introduced an additional declaration form along with Form 6 which require these voters to provide details of their earlier electoral roll entries or that of their parents or grandparents NEW DELHI The Election Commission of India (ECI) has raised a razor-thin justification to allegations that it has unauthorisedly amended Form 6 to introduce extra-statutory requirements for voters whose names were deleted in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to return to the electoral rolls.

Use of Form 6 to re-enlist voters left out during SIR challenged in Supreme Court storyline 1 Supreme Court assures no deleted voters will be prosecuted for submitting Form 6 storyline 1 The ECI has introduced an additional declaration form along with Form 6 which require these voters to provide details of their earlier electoral roll entries or that of their parents or grandparents.

The ECI calls the exercise ‘mapping’. Any perceived mismatch of lack of detail in this regard is broadly termed as ‘logical discrepancy’. In Delhi alone, there were initially 33.12 lakh cases of ‘no-mapping’ or ‘logical discrepancy’. Neither approved nor disapproved, Supreme Court clarifies stance on Form 6 alterations storyline 1 CEC row LIVE updates Petitioners had claimed in the Supreme Court that the additional declaration form was an illegal amendment to Form 6.

ECI cannot have unilaterally altered Form 6. That was the job of the Centre, and not the ECI. Declaration part of Form 6 changed since SIR in Bihar Declaration part of Form 6 changed since SIR in Bihar ECI officials say a separate declaration form with Form 6 and Form 8 was approved by the three-member commission when the SIR process began in Bihar last year and was ratified again in phases two and three Declaration part of Form 6 changed since SIR in Bihar storyline 1 An affidavit displaying a united face among Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi argued that the petitioners had got it wrong.

Form 6 was never changed. The additional declaration form was not part of the statutory Form 6. “The Declaration is a document provided by SIR orders and is NOT a part of Form 6, which is the statutory Form for inclusion in the electoral roll,” the affidavit said. The phrase “for inclusion in the electoral roll” does not fully explain the role of Form 6. This Form is meant exclusively to apply as a fresh voter.

Petitioners have challenged this aspect too. They argue that pre-existing electors deleted during the SIR exercise are being forced to apply as fresh voters, compelled to do so under the threat of penal consequences. Changes to Form 6 not made by court; post-retirement immunity to CEC not given to even judges: Supreme Court Changes to Form 6 not made by court; post-retirement immunity to CEC not given to even judges: Supreme Court “A protection when in office is always understood.

But the ‘was’ in the provision is perhaps only protection with regard to the President. It does not apply even to judges... Look at the Judges Inquiry Act,” Justice Joymalya Bagchi said Changes to Form 6 not made by court; post-retirement immunity to CEC not given to even judges: Supreme Court storyline 1 EC said the additional declaration was part of an online push to assist voters.

They could file their required details in a single document rather than produce multiple documents for verification like in the Bihar SIR. The ECI’s justification has come even as the Supreme Court, on October 12, orally clarified that it had neither approved nor disapproved the controversial alterations made to Form 6 in a May 27 judgment, which was entirely about the legality of the pilot Bihar SIR.

The oral remark had clearly acknowledged the additional declaration form as the “new Form 6”. EC reverts to allowing Form 6 submission without attached declaration in non-SIR States EC reverts to allowing Form 6 submission without attached declaration in non-SIR States While Form 6 is normally used for new voter registrations, during the SIR process, it was also used for re-enlisting those who had been deleted during the enumeration phase.

A separate declaration had been added to the physical form regarding the mapping of self or parents with electoral rolls from the period of the previous SIR EC reverts to allowing Form 6 submission without attached declaration in non-SIR States storyline 1 “When the Bihar SIR issue was heard and decided, the new Form 6 was not there. The new Form 6 was neither approved nor disapproved by us.

But we will examine it now,” Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who is part of the Bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, had observed orally. The remark had come in response to a petition filed by Priya Mishra against the Union government challenging the alterations made to Form 6 to register new voters during the SIR exercises undertaken across multiple States.