New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) Amid a row over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday drew attention to the provision, cleared with “unanimous approval”, that those submitting an additional declaration form, along with Form 6 or Form 8, would not have to submit any other document.
It underlined that the provision was mentioned during the SIR process in Bihar and other states and Union Territories.
The ECI stated that it is conducting the SIR under section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, as “has been upheld in many courts across the country”.
The poll panel said that with its “unanimous approval”, the SIR order for Bihar, dated June 24, 2025, “had contained the provision for Form 6 along with Declaration Form”.
“Further, in case of application for registration as a new elector or for shifting from outside the state of Bihar, it is also directed that henceforth, along with Form 6/Form 8, an additional Declaration Form (Annexure D) shall also be required to be filled by the applicant to support the declaration made therein,” it quoted the earlier order as reading.
It also said that the SIR issued another order for 12 States and Union Territories on October 27, 2025, which also included the same provision, again with the “unanimous approval” of the Commission.
“Further, in case of application for registration as a new elector or for shifting from outside the state, it is also directed that henceforth, along with Form 6 or Form 8, an additional Declaration Form (Annexure D) shall also be required to be filled by the applicant to support the declaration made therein,” it quoted from the previous order.
Subsequently, through the order dated May 14, the SIR was launched in 19 states and Union Territories under the same provision, and again with the “unanimous approval” of the Commission, the poll panel said in a statement.
The ECI emphasised that the Supreme Court upheld its power to add the declaration form in the ADR vs. ECI writ petition 640/2025 on May 27 this year.
The Election Commission quoted the order of the apex court: “Any new voter was required to submit Form 6 along with a Declaration Form in Annexure D of the Impugned Order.”
“The Impugned SIR exercise neither stands in direct conflict with the RP Act and the 1960 Rules, nor does it detract from the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections. It is, instead, an exercise traceable to Section 21(3) of the RP Act read with Article 324 of the Constitution, undertaken to advance the very objective which Part XV of the Constitution is designed to protect,” the Supreme Court’s order said.
The ECI said the declaration form was introduced for the “ease of voters” so that whoever submits the declaration form “need not submit any other documents”.
“This has been uniformly applied in the SIR across all states and Union Territories,” it added.
Meanwhile, sources at the ECI clarified that the online portal ‘ECINet’ is a “decentralised platform” designed in accordance with the RP Act 1950, RP Act 1951, and instructions issued by the poll panel from time to time.
This follows a media report claiming that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised “red flags” about the “gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database” and warned that ECINet was restricting the powers of the Electoral Registration Officers (ERO).
“As per law, BLOs, AEROs, EROs, DEOs and CEOs can perform their statutory functions on this platform with their Unique ID and Password. Nobody else can perform their statutory function on ECINet, including any other officer of ECI,” sources said.
It further said that to ward off malicious attempts to hack ECINet (which amounted to 68 lakhs just on the day of the general elections to the legislative assemblies held earlier this year), the ECI provides ECINet’s cybersecurity.
–IANS
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