Amid row, EC scraps Form 6 annexure in states where SIR is complete
The Election Commission has removed an additional SIR-related declaration from the online voter enrolment Form 6 in states where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has been completed, following a row over the "illegal" changes.
The controversy erupted after a report in The Indian Express said that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR exercise.
The Commission has clarified that it has not made any legal changes to the original format of Form 6, which is the statutory form used by eligible citizens to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll.
The additional declaration, introduced during the SIR process, required new applicants to furnish details linking themselves, their parents or grandparents to electoral rolls prepared during an earlier intensive revision.
The declaration has now been removed from the ECINET app and portal, as well as the respective Chief Electoral Officer portals, in states where the SIR has concluded.
Applicants in these states will fill in only the statutory Form 6.
The additional declaration remains available in states and Union Territories where the SIR is still underway.
The move follows a September 26 meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh 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 the SIR and that, during the non-SIR period, forms applicable under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would be used.FORM 6 CONTROVERSY
The issue became a point of controversy after Sandhu and Joshi raised objections to changes relating to Form 6.
Joshi had objected on the grounds that a form prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, could not be modified without amending the rules. Sandhu 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 "illegal" and seeking its removal.
The Election Commission, however, has maintained that Form 6 itself was not amended and that the declaration was an additional requirement specific to the SIR process.
It has also said that the declaration was upheld by the Supreme Court in its judgment on the Bihar SIR.HOW WAS FORM 6 DIFFERENT DURING SIR
During the SIR, applicants filling Form 6 were required to declare whether their names, or those of their parents or grandparents, were included in electoral rolls prepared during the previous SIR held in the early 2000s.
The SIR-compliant process also required parental or grandparental details and made constituency and booth-related information mandatory.
Applicants filling the form online were required to provide their family's assembly constituency number, polling booth number and serial number as per the previous SIR list.
These details were not required in the original Form 6, which did not ask new applicants to provide information about their parents' or grandparents' past electoral records.
The additional requirements had particularly raised documentation issues for young voters born after the 2000s, as well as voters whose names had previously been deleted and were seeking re-enrolment.
Under the old Form 6, now restored in non-SIR states, new voters can register without the additional family-mapping declaration.
Parent or guardian details of new voters are digitally recorded as part of the SIR process where applicable.
The EC has said the additional declaration was introduced during SIR to prevent infiltration and ensure the accuracy of electoral rolls.- Ends(With PTI inputs)
I am Sanjay Shrama Deputy Editor with Aajtak. I am with this prestigious organisation and one of the torch bearer of our motto `Golden standard of journalism` since two decades.. In 2001 I jjoined Aajtak as assistant producer. and since 2003 I am with reporting team.
During this period I have been covering mainly legal beat as Supreme Court, Law ministry, Law commission, Election commission. I have covered Culture ministry as well Tourism and Water resource ministry.. Alongwith legal I am fortunate to do political stories and human interest stories.
Very fond of art culture and Indian classical music. I have been deciple of Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj ji, great doyan of Mewati Gharana. Apart from this great achievement I have covered great congragation of the world The Kumbh mela at all four vanues twice.
Eager to learm languages. I can read and speak many languages apart from Hindi and English I acan read, speak and understand Urdu, Nepali, Rajasthani, Maithili, Bhojpuri and Haryanavi...
