Form 6 Row: EC Removes Extra SIR Declaration Where Voter Roll Revision Is Complete

The Election Commission has removed the additional Special Intensive Revision (SIR) -related declaration from the online voter enrolment process in states and Union Territories where the exercise has been completed, a move that comes amid growing controversy over the addition of the requirement to Form 6.

The EC has presented the move as the implementation of its September 26 decision that the additional declaration was meant only for the SIR period. Once the exercise is over, applicants will use the statutory Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

The declaration, which required new applicants to provide details linking themselves, their parents or grandparents to electoral rolls prepared during an earlier intensive revision, remains on the ECINET portal in states and Union Territories where SIR is still underway.

The additional declaration has now been removed from the ECINET app and portal and the respective Chief Electoral Officer websites in states where the revision has concluded.

The timing is significant because the Form 6 change had triggered internal differences within the poll panel. Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi had objected to changes involving the statutory form, arguing that it could not be modified without amending the 1960 rules. Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu concurred and later described the addition of the SIR declaration as "unauthorised/illegal".

The EC has maintained that Form 6 itself was not amended, describing the declaration as an additional SIR-specific requirement. It has also cited the Supreme Court's Bihar SIR judgment in defending the requirement.

The September 26 meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Sandhu and Joshi also produced other measures. The Commission ordered a review of ECINET by a committee headed by a Senior Deputy Election Commissioner and including an independent expert from an IIT or IIIT.

The EC has further eased procedures for voters flagged as "unmapped" or having logical discrepancies during SIR. Booth-level officers can collect documents from such voters at their homes and upload them to ECINET, with personal hearings reserved for exceptional cases.

The Commission has maintained that all SIR-related decisions had the unanimous approval of all three election commissioners, despite reported objections over several decisions.