New Delhi: The Election Commission has removed the additional declaration related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) from voter enrolment Form 6 in states and Union Territories where the electoral roll revision process has been completed.
The declaration has been removed from the ECINET app and portal, as well as the websites of the respective Chief Electoral Officers. This means people seeking to register as voters in these states will only have to submit the regular statutory Form 6 for inclusion in the electoral rolls.
Declaration Remains in States Where SIR Is Ongoing
However, the additional declaration continues to be available on the ECINET platform in states and Union Territories where the SIR exercise is still in progress.
Under the additional requirement, new applicants have to provide information linking themselves, their parents or grandparents with electoral rolls prepared during an earlier SIR exercise.
The Election Commission has said that the declaration was introduced specifically for the SIR exercise. It has maintained that once the SIR period is over, the forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, will apply.
Form 6 Changes Had Triggered Dispute
The latest decision comes amid a controversy over the inclusion of the additional declaration in the online version of Form 6.
According to reports, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to the changes. Joshi had reportedly questioned the modification of a statutory form without an amendment to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
Sandhu had also objected to the SIR-related declaration after it was added to the online Form 6 process and had sought its removal, describing the change as unauthorised.
The Election Commission, however, has maintained that Form 6 itself was not changed and that the additional declaration was only an SIR-specific requirement.
EC Says All Three Commissioners Approved SIR Decisions
The development follows a September 26 meeting of the full Election Commission, attended by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
After the meeting, the Commission said that the SIR-related declaration was meant specifically for the revision exercise and that regular forms under the existing rules would be used outside the SIR period.
The poll panel also maintained that decisions and orders concerning the SIR had received the unanimous approval of all three Election Commissioners.
The issue comes amid a wider political dispute over the SIR exercise, with opposition parties preparing to discuss their next course of action against CEC Gyanesh Kumar.