New Delhi, Sep 30: The Election Commission has removed the additional Special Intensive Revision (SIR) declaration from online Form 6 in states and Union Territories where the electoral-roll revision exercise has been completed.
The additional declaration will continue to be available in places where the SIR process is still underway, according to reports.
SIR Declaration Removed From ECINET
The additional declaration had required new voter applicants to provide information linking themselves, their parents or grandparents to electoral rolls prepared during an earlier intensive revision.
Following the latest change, applicants in states where SIR has been completed will only have to submit the statutory Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The additional SIR declaration has been removed from the ECINET application and portal as well as the websites of the respective Chief Electoral Officers.
Form 6 is used by eligible citizens to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll.
Decision Follows September 26 EC Meeting
The move comes days after a September 26 meeting of the full Election Commission comprising Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
After the meeting, the Commission clarified that the additional declaration was intended specifically for the SIR exercise. It said that outside the SIR period, the forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would apply.
The ECI has maintained that the statutory Form 6 itself was not changed. Instead, the SIR-related requirement was introduced as an additional declaration alongside the existing form.
Sandhu and Joshi Had Raised Objections
The Form 6 issue had become part of a wider controversy over the functioning of the Election Commission.
Reports by The Indian Express said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to changes related to the form. Joshi argued that a statutory form prescribed under the 1960 rules could not be modified without an amendment to those rules. Sandhu subsequently supported the objection and sought removal of the change.
The two commissioners were also reported to have raised objections on several SIR-related decisions over the previous 10 months.
EC Says SIR Decisions Were Unanimous
Despite the reported objections, the Election Commission has maintained that decisions relating to the SIR exercise received the unanimous approval of all three commissioners.
The Commission has also said that the additional declaration attached to Form 6 was part of the SIR process and had been upheld by the Supreme Court in connection with the Bihar SIR.
The latest removal of the declaration therefore applies specifically to states and Union Territories where the SIR exercise has already concluded, while the requirement remains in areas where the revision is still in progress.
What the Change Means for New Voters
For applicants in areas where SIR has been completed, the online voter-registration process will now revert to the regular statutory Form 6, without the additional SIR-specific declaration.
The change is the latest development in the ongoing debate over SIR, Form 6 and the Election Commission’s procedures for updating electoral rolls.
