{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "Voter Registration Rule Shift: Election Body Removes SIR Declaration From Form 6 in Completed Regions",
  "summary": "The Election Commission has eliminated the additional Special Intensive Revision declaration from Form 6 across states and union territories where the exercise has ended. New applicants in these locations will now submit only the statutory form framed under the 1960 voter rules.",
  "content": "In an important procedural recalibration for electoral roll enrolment, the Election Commission has removed the supplementary Special Intensive Revision (SIR) declaration attached to Form 6 in states and union territories where the intensive exercise has been completed. By Wednesday night, the systemic modification reflected on the official ECINet portal as well as on the individual web portals of respective Chief Electoral Officers. As a consequence, aspiring voters in these specified territories are now required to submit solely the standard Form 6 as prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.\n\nHowever, this procedural relaxation has not been rolled out nationwide. In regions where the Special Intensive Revision remains actively under way, the additional declaration form continues to be an obligatory part of the online application pipeline. The selective rollback has brought renewed focus on the internal deliberations within the poll authority, especially regarding the operational necessity of attaching extra declarations to statutory forms and how this latest step connects to the full commission meeting convened on September 26.\n\nOrigin of the Online SIR Declaration Mechanism\nThe controversy surrounding the voter enrolment documentation began when an auxiliary section dedicated to the SIR was directly embedded into the online version of Form 6. Through this digital addition, fresh applicants were required to specify whether their own names, or those of their parents or grandparents, appeared in the previous electoral rolls compiled during earlier SIR drives. If a family registration history existed, applicants were further mandated to furnish specific historical record markers, including booth allocations and serial numbers.\n\nThis extra demand for historical data provoked strong procedural reservations at the helm of the commission. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally flagged the inclusion of the module. They questioned how a statutory application template framed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 could be modified or augmented without going through formal rule amendment processes. Sandhu later characterized the newly appended online declaration as unauthorized and illegal, calling for its immediate removal from the enrolment interface.\n\nPoll Body Defense and Judicial Backing\nIn response to procedural objections, the Election Commission maintained an official stance clarifying that the core structure of Form 6 itself had never been altered or amended. The commission explained that the supplementary declaration was solely an operational necessity designed for regions undergoing the Special Intensive Revision drive, which led to its temporary integration into the online application workflow.\n\nThe authority also cited judicial precedence to substantiate its procedural approach. It emphasized that a ruling by the High Court regarding the SIR implementation in Bihar had upheld the validity and use of the supplementary declaration format. Based on this perspective, the commission reiterated that the additional requirement was not a permanent revision to general voter registration protocols, but merely a temporary administrative tool linked strictly to the duration of the intensive revision drive.\n\nThe September 26 Full Commission Meeting\nThe updated digital rollout follows closely on the heels of a full commission meeting held on September 26, attended by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar alongside Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. Following that session, the commission had affirmed that the supplementary declaration tied to Form 6 was strictly meant for the operational lifecycle of the SIR. The body resolved that in non-SIR phases, registration would rely entirely on the standard forms authorized under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.\n\nJust four days after that formal resolution, the additional questionnaire was withdrawn from the ECINet portal and state election websites for areas that had wrapped up the revision process. The shift arrived against the backdrop of earlier reports indicating that Sandhu and Joshi had expressed reservations multiple times over decisions and orders issued regarding the SIR over the preceding 10 months. Nevertheless, the commission declared in its September 26 public release that all formal orders concerning the SIR had carried the unanimous consensus of all three election commissioners.\n\nCurrent Status for New Enrolments\nUnder the prevailing setup, voter enrolment procedures now follow two divergent tracks depending on regional progress. In jurisdictions where the Special Intensive Revision has officially drawn to a close, new voters can access the standard, unencumbered Form 6. These citizens are no longer compelled to search for ancestral electoral records, historical booth assignments, or past roll serial figures to validate their residency and identity credentials.\n\nConversely, in regions where the SIR remains ongoing, the auxiliary declaration remains an active requirement. Prospective voters in those locations must continue to detail their ancestral linkages to earlier revision records. The targeted removal of the document in completed zones is widely seen as the step-by-step implementation of the compromise established during the September 26 meeting, indicating that other jurisdictions will likely revert to the standalone standard form once their local revision drives conclude.\n\nWhat this means for you\nThis administrative change significantly simplifies the online voter registration experience for citizens in multiple regions.\n\n• Reduced Paperwork: Applicants in states where the Special Intensive Revision has concluded are no longer required to trace old ancestral electoral records. This eliminates the burden of locating past roll numbers and expedites the overall submission process.\n• Standardised Form 6: New voters can now fill out the basic statutory Form 6 directly on the ECINet portal and state election websites. Citizens are freed from the mandate of providing past polling booth numbers or ancestral serial entries.\n• Active Revision Zones: Citizens living in states where the Special Intensive Revision is still underway must continue filling out the supplementary declaration form. Those applicants must still prepare and submit their family links to previous revision registers.\n• Faster Processing: Reverting to the unencumbered statutory form minimizes application errors and reduces portal rejection rates. This ensures that new electoral cards can be processed through a uniform and hassle-free administrative channel.\n\nWhy this happened\nThe decision to drop the additional declaration stemmed from internal procedural objections and the resolution achieved during a full commission meeting on September 26.\n\n• Procedural and Legal Objections: Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi questioned adding an unamended declaration to a statutory form under the 1960 rules. Sandhu formally sought the removal of the module, citing it as unauthorized and unlawful.\n• Full Commission Resolution: During the September 26 meeting led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the two commissioners, it was agreed that the extra declaration belonged strictly to active SIR phases. The leadership affirmed that standard 1960 rules must govern all non-SIR intervals.\n• Phased Operational Execution: With the revision exercise officially wrapping up in several territories, the commission executed the decision by scrubbing the form from digital portals in those areas. This systematic rollout ensured compliance with the consensus reached during the internal review.\n\nQuestions & Answers\n\n1. What specific change has been made to Form 6?\nThe Election Commission has removed the supplementary Special Intensive Revision (SIR) declaration from Form 6 in states where the SIR drive has concluded.\n\n2. What details were previously sought in the additional declaration?\nApplicants had to state whether their name or their parents' or grandparents' names were in past SIR rolls, along with historical booth and serial numbers.\n\n3. What objections were raised by the election commissioners?\nVivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu objected to altering a statutory 1960 rule form without amendments, with Sandhu calling the online addition unauthorized and illegal.\n\n4. Has this update been implemented across all Indian states?\nNo, it applies only to areas where the SIR is finished, while states with ongoing SIR exercises still display the additional declaration.\n\n5. What was the Election Commission's official stance on the matter?\nThe commission maintained that Form 6 was not amended but merely supplemented for the SIR, noting the declaration was upheld by a High Court ruling in Bihar.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/national/votara-lista-men-nama-juravane-ke-niyamon-men-badalava-kai-rajyon-men-form-6-se-hati-sir-ghoshana-40331",
  "category": "India",
  "publishedAt": "2026-09-30",
  "tags": [
    "Election Commission",
    "Form 6",
    "Voter List",
    "Voter ID",
    "Special Intensive Revision",
    "Chief Election Commissioner",
    "ECINet"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}