New Delhi, Oct 28 People Against SIR on Wednesday alleged that the Election Commission had bypassed Parliament’s authority by electronically linking an additional declaration to Form 6 for voter registration.
People Against SIR is a national platform of groups representing farmers, workers, women, students, Adivasis, Dalits and minorities opposing the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Citing the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on October 26, the platform said the poll body had acknowledged the electronic integration of the additional declaration with Form 6, which it alleged effectively introduced an additional mandatory requirement for voter registration without statutory backing.
“The ECI defence is effectively a confession of an ultra vires act — i.e. acting beyond its legal authority,” it said in a statement.
People Against SIR argued that under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, the power to frame or alter voter registration rules rested with the Central government, and the Election Commission could not change the statutory process through an administrative instruction.
“By deploying an IT system that enforced this combined form, the CEC effectively bypassed Parliament’s exclusive domain to alter voter registration criteria thus negating Parliament’s authority,” the statement said.
It alleged that by electronically binding the additional declaration to Form 6, the poll panel had made it impossible for a citizen to complete statutory registration without complying with an extra-statutory requirement.
“By acknowledging that the IT portal electronically bound the ‘additional declaration’ to Form 6, the ECI confirms that a citizen could not complete their statutory registration without complying with an extra-statutory requirement,” it said.
Rejecting the Commission’s argument that the combined interface was intended for convenience, the platform said the central issue was whether the electronic integration amounted to an unauthorised alteration of rules that fell within Parliament’s domain.
“The legal debate is no longer about whether the ECI combined the forms, but whether doing so unlawfully stripped Parliament of its statutory authority,” it said.
The platform also said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s protection from removal except through a process similar to that applicable to a Supreme Court judge could not justify the Commission acting beyond its jurisdiction.
Alleging that the SIR exercise and changes to the forms were aimed at benefiting the BJP, People Against SIR claimed that more than 13 crore voters had been deleted from electoral rolls without transparency.
It demanded Kumar’s removal and prosecution, scrapping of the SIR and restoration of voting rights to all citizens through paper ballots.
“People Against SIR is committed to intensify the united massive struggles until these concrete demands are achieved,” the statement said.
(PTI News)
