The ECI has separated the SIR declaration from online Form 6, following objections by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The declaration will remain a separate part of the application process in states where the SIR is under way.
Voters missing from draft SIR rolls can file Form 6 to seek inclusion, even if they were enrolled earlier.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has separated the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) declaration from the online Form 6 used to enrol new voters, reversing a change on which one of the Election Commissioners had called "illegal", Indian Express reported.
The declaration had been embedded in Form 6 on the ECINet portal, where applicants had to say whether their name, a parent’s or a grandparent’s name appeared on the electoral roll during the last SIR in the early 2000s—or whether none did. Applicants could not submit the form without answering.
The ECI told the Supreme Court in an October 26 counter-affidavit that its Electoral Roll Division had decided on October 21 to make the online application two-part: the statutory Form 6 and a separate SIR declaration. The affidavit said the declaration had initially been added to let applicants use a single OTP and e-signature, but the arrangement became “a subject matter of deliberation and suggestions”.
EC Vivek Joshi Objected Called Form 'Illegal'
Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi wrote on May 16 that the form could not be changed without a legal amendment. Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu agreed on May 19 and called the change “unauthorised/illegal” on August 13, according to records cited by The Indian Express.
The declaration appeared in the online form in July despite the objections. The ECI later told the newspaper that the declaration had been upheld by the Supreme Court for the SIR period, while the forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would apply outside it.
The latest change separates the declaration from Form 6 on the portal; it does not remove the SIR declaration from the application process in states where the revision is under way.
Voters Omitted From Draft Rolls Can Use Form 6
In a separate clarification, the ECI said voters whose names are missing from draft SIR rolls can submit Form 6 to seek inclusion in the final electoral roll, even if they were enrolled earlier.
The poll panel said some such voters were reluctant to apply because Form 6 requires a declaration that their name is being included in the electoral roll for the first time. They feared that submitting it despite prior enrolment could amount to a false declaration and invite prosecution under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
The ECI said submitting Form 6 after a name has been omitted from a draft SIR roll does not, by itself, amount to a false declaration. An Electoral Registration Officer cannot initiate action under Section 31 merely because a previously enrolled voter files the form during or after the SIR, the commission said. Such action would be barred unless the person is enrolled elsewhere or has made an unlawful or false declaration.
Citing an October 14 Delhi High Court judgment, the ECI said the concern about making a false declaration was misplaced.
