Congress asks India’s Supreme Court to examine alleged Form 6 changes
India’s Congress party has asked the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of alleged changes to the online voter-enrolment Form 6. The party says an added declaration about previous electoral rolls creates obstacles for young voters, while the Election Commission says the form itself was not amended.
India’s Congress party has urged the Supreme Court to examine what it calls illegal and unconstitutional changes to the voter-enrolment process under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Election Commission changed the online version of Form 6 in July by adding a requirement concerning whether an applicant’s parents or grandparents appeared on the electoral roll from an earlier Special Intensive Revision, or SIR. Ramesh alleged that the change was introduced without an official notification or an amendment to the rules governing the statutory form.
He said the Election Commission did not have the authority to make such an alteration and called for the court to hold Kumar accountable. The dispute is particularly significant for first-time voters. The Hindu reported that a declaration on the ECINet portal required applicants to establish whether their own, their parents’ or their grandparents’ names appeared in the previous SIR roll.
Ramesh questioned the Election Commission’s subsequent direction for officials to organise special enrolment camps for young voters and publicise them widely on social media. He argued that the commission had first created a barrier to registration and was then attempting to facilitate enrolment through the camps. The Congress leader also alleged that the online form was changed in early July without an amendment to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
He renewed his call for Kumar’s resignation, saying the issue directly affected young voters. The Election Commission has maintained that Form 6 itself was not amended. It said the additional SIR-related requirement was introduced through instructions and a separate declaration, and that final decisions on the SIR exercise were taken unanimously by the three Election Commissioners.
The demand for Supreme Court intervention came a day after a separate petition sought action against Kumar over alleged unilateral decisions related to the SIR process, including the Form 6 issue.
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