EC Adds New Declaration to Online Form 6 without Amending Electoral Rules, Say Former Officials

New Delhi — The Election Commission has quietly introduced a new declaration in the online version of Form 6, the form used for new voter enrolment, without making any formal change to the electoral rules, The Indian Express reported on July 12.

According to the report, the ECINET portal now shows an unnumbered “declaration” placed between Part J and Part K of Form 6. The downloadable PDF version of the form on the same portal does not include this section.

Applicants using the online form cannot submit it without filling this section, though it is not marked as mandatory.

What the new declaration asks

Voters must state whether they or their parents were listed in the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. There are 3 options:

1. “My name exists in Electoral Roll of last SIR”
2. “My parent’s name (Father, Mother, Grandfather, Grandmother) exists in the electoral roll of last SIR”
3. “Neither my name nor my parents name exists in the electoral roll of last SIR”

If option 1 or 2 is chosen, applicants must provide the Assembly constituency, polling station number and serial number from the last SIR list. The report says if they cannot find these details, they are left with only option 3. The portal does not clarify what happens if option 3 is selected.

The new field is visible to applicants in all states and UTs where SIR has been completed or is underway in 2025-26, except Bihar — where SIR began first in June last year — and Assam, where the EC has decided not to conduct an SIR.

Context: SIR deletions

The change comes amid the EC’s nationwide SIR exercise. Over 5.58 crore names have been deleted from electoral rolls in 10 states and 3 UTs since last year, raising concerns about the impact on children of those deleted.

Legal concerns raised

The Indian Express said the change was made without amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

Section 28 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 states that rules for the Act can only be made by the Central Government after consulting the EC, through a notification in the Official Gazette.

Two former senior EC officials told the newspaper that any change to the form requires a rule amendment.

“The EC cannot even add a comma to the form on its own,” one official said. The report cited the 2021 example when Parliament amended the RP Act to allow collection of Aadhaar. The Law Ministry then issued a notification in June 2022 to update the Rules and Form 6 accordingly.