The Election Commission has removed an additional SIR-related declaration from the online voter enrolment Form 6 in states where the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls has been completed amid controversy. The decision was taken a few days after the full Commission decided that the requirement would apply only during the exercise.
Additional declaration removed from ECINET app
The declaration, which requires new applicants to provide details linking themselves or their parents or grandparents to electoral rolls prepared during an earlier intensive revision, continues to be available on the ECINET portal in states and Union Territories where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is underway.
In states where the SIR has been completed, the additional declaration has been removed from the ECINET app and portal, as well as from the respective Chief Electoral Officer portals. Applicants seeking enrolment are now required to fill only the statutory Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
The move follows a September 26 meeting of the full Commission comprising Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
After the meeting, the poll panel had said that the declaration attached to Form 6 was meant for SIR and that "for non-SIR period, the Forms applicable as per Rules (the Registration of Electors Rules 1960) will be used".
Form 6 controversy
The issue became a point of controversy after it emerged that Sandhu and Joshi had raised objections to changes related to Form 6.
Form 6 is the statutory form used by eligible citizens to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll. Joshi had objected to changes to the form, arguing that a form prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, could not be modified without amending the rules. Sandhu had concurred with him.
After the SIR-related declaration was incorporated into the online Form 6 process on ECINET, Sandhu again objected to the change, describing it as 'unauthorised/illegal' and seeking its removal.
The Election Commission, however, has maintained in its public statements that Form 6 itself was not amended and that the declaration was an additional requirement specific to the SIR exercise. The poll panel has also said that the declaration was upheld by the Supreme Court in its judgment on the Bihar SIR.
The developments on September 26 came after The Indian Express reported that Sandhu and Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR that they alleged were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
In its September 26 statement, the Election Commission maintained that orders related to the SIR had the unanimous approval of all three Election Commissioners.
(With PTI inputs)
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