EC rolls back SIR declaration in Form 6 for states where the exercise is over

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has withdrawn the additional SIR-related declaration from Form 6 in states where the electoral roll revision exercise has been completed, PTI reported on Wednesday.In states where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has concluded, the additional declaration has been removed from the ECINET app and portal, as well as the respective Chief Electoral Officer portals. This means that applicants in states where SIR is over will only need to fill the regular statutory Form 6 to enrol as voters.In states and Union territories where the roll revision is still underway, the declaration remains available on the ECINET portal.

Under it, new applicants are required to furnish details linking themselves, their parents or grandparents to electoral rolls prepared during an earlier SIR.The development comes on a day when parties in the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc are scheduled to meet in New Delhi to discuss their course of action against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the issue.The move also follows a September 26 meeting of the full Commission, comprising CEC Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

After the meeting, the poll panel said the declaration attached to Form 6 was meant "specifically for SIR" and that “for non-SIR period, the Forms applicable as per Rules (the Registration of Electors Rules 1960) will be used.”The issue had become controversial after The Indian Express reported that Sandhu and Joshi had raised objections to changes relating 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 on the grounds 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, describing the change as “unauthorised/illegal” and seeking its removal.

The EC has maintained in its public statements that Form 6 itself was not amended and that the declaration was an additional SIR-specific requirement.

It has also said that the declaration was upheld by the Supreme Court in its judgment on the Bihar SIR.According to the Indian Express report, Sandhu and Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the previous 10 months to decisions and orders on SIR that they claimed had been issued without their knowledge or recommendation.The Commission, in its September 26 statement, maintained that orders relating to SIR had the unanimous approval of all three election commissioners.