New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to remove the additional declaration to Form 6 (voter enrolment form) from its ECINET application portal in those states where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has concluded. The changes in the ECINET system came into effect on September 30.

The declaration, however, stays for those states where the SIR exercise is underway. The ECI portal also shows that the declaration form remains available for 13 states, where the voter revision exercise is underway.

Form 6 is used for new voter registrations, during the SIR process and is also required for re-enlisting those whose names were deleted during the enumeration phase. A separate declaration was added to the physical form, regarding the mapping of voters, with the electoral rolls from the period of the previous SIR.

This additional declaration came in the centre of a storm, as it was done in alleged violation of rules and was what the two Election Commissioners, Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, had raised objections to. In their dissent, the two Election Commissioners had reportedly said that this was beyond the ECI’s mandate and only the Law Ministry was empowered to suggest or effect any changes. Both the Commissioners contended that the form prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, could not be modified without amending the rules.

The Election Commission, however, later clarified that no changes were made to the original statutory Form 6 and only a separate Annexure-D was attached to it during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.

This means that in states where the SIR process has been completed, prospective voters can now apply using the standard Form 6 and wouldn’t be required to submit the additional SIR-related declaration.

What created controversy

During the SIR process in various states, new voters were asked to provide information linked to their past electoral records, parents, or grandparents.

This additional declaration included details such as mapping to the family’s previous electoral roll entries.

The controversy erupted after it recently emerged that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to making the additional declaration ‘mandatory’ alongside Form 6.

What changes after the withdrawal of the SIR declaration

The additional declaration will no longer be needed in non-SIR areas, meaning that first-time voters will not be required to provide historical family mapping details associated with the SIR process.

As the Commission has removed the additional declaration form in states where SIR has concluded, Form 6 has been restored to standard format, and first-time voters can get themselves registered by giving personal details and necessary documents regarding age and residence.

ECI’s clarification on SIR declaration

Notably, the ECI in its September 26 statement also stated that the declaration accompanying Form 6 would now be used only during the period of SIR.

They said that Form 6 was never amended, and the declaration was merely added to it. It also stated that the power to add the declaration form was upheld by the Supreme Court in its judgment on May 27.

The Commission also maintained that the orders relating to SIR had the unanimous approval of all three Election Commissioners.

–IANS

mr/dpb