The Election Commission of India (ECI) has withdrawn an additional declaration connected to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) from the online Form 6 used by new voters in states where the revision exercise has culminated. The move eases the voter-registration process in those states and comes after questions were raised within the three-member poll panel over the extra requirement.
Form 6 is the statutory application used by eligible citizens to register as voters. The ECI’s voter-services portal offers Form 6 for people aged 18 years old or will turn 18 in the next few months.
What Was the Additional Declaration of EC SIR?
The additional section was connected to the SIR exercise. It required information connecting a new applicant or their relatives with electoral rolls from the previous SIR. Reports said applicants were asked to offer details about themselves, their parents or grandparents and their presence in earlier electoral rolls.
Later, the additional requirement triggered internal discussion within the ECI. According to reports, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to the alteration and questioned whether changes to the statutory voter-enrolment framework necessitated the prescribed legal process.
What Has the Election Commission Changed?
The recent decision means that in states where the SIR process and final electoral-roll publication have culminated, new voters will not have to submit the additional SIR declaration along with Form 6.
However, the revision is not enforced uniformly across the country. In states and Union Territories where SIR is still underway, the additional declaration continues to accompany fresh enrolment applications under the current process.
The ECI had earlier clarified that the present statutory Form 6 itself had not been moved and regarded the SIR-related requirement as a separate annexure.
Why the ECI SIR Voter List Change Matters
The rollback lowers the documentation required from first-time applicants in areas where the intense revision has already concluded. It also differentiatesthe regular voter-registration process from an SIR-specific requirement once that revision exercise is over.
This comes amid broader scrutiny of the ECI’s voter-roll revision process and the procedures used to verify electoral eligibility. The commission has maintained that its voter-registration and revision processes are directed by electoral laws and definite procedures.
For voters, the practical change is simply that in places where SIR has been completed, eligible first-time applicants can utilise the regular Form 6 process without the additional SIR-linked declaration.