New Delhi, Sept. 30 -- The Election Commission has removed an additional declaration linked to the Special Intensive Revision from the online voter enrolment process in states where the exercise has been completed, days after deciding that the requirement would apply only during the SIR period.

The declaration had required new voters to provide details connecting themselves, their parents or grandparents to electoral rolls prepared during an earlier intensive revision. It remains part of the online Form 6 process on the ECINET portal in states and Union Territories where SIR is still underway.

In states where the revision has concluded, the declaration has been taken off the ECINET app and portal, as well as the websites of the respective Chief Electoral Officers. Applicants in these states will now use only the statutory Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

The changes follow a September 26 meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The Commission said after the meeting that the additional declaration was intended specifically for SIR and that "for non-SIR period, the Forms applicable as per Rules (the Registration of Electors Rules 1960) will be used".

The Form 6 issue had triggered objections within the Commission. Joshi had questioned changes to the statutory form, arguing that a form prescribed under the 1960 rules could not be altered without an amendment to those rules. Sandhu had supported his position.

After the SIR declaration was added to the online Form 6 process, Sandhu again objected, calling the change "unauthorised/illegal" and seeking its withdrawal.

The EC has maintained that Form 6 itself was not changed and that the declaration was an additional requirement applicable to SIR. It has also said the declaration was upheld by the Supreme Court in its ruling on the Bihar SIR.

The September 26 meeting followed a report by The Indian Express that Sandhu and Joshi had recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months regarding SIR-related decisions and orders. The Commission said those orders had the unanimous approval of all three election commissioners.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.