Form 6 and the SIR Declaration: Why the Election Commission Says the Extra Page Is Not Part of the Voter Form
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken the stand that the additional declaration it attached to Form 6 during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is not part of Form 6 itself. It calls it a separate document needed only for the SIR exercise.
Form 6 is the form a person fills to get their name added to the voter list for the first time. It is prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
The extra declaration asks applicants whether their own name, or the name of a parent or grandparent, appeared in the voter list of an earlier SIR, and to give those details.
The ECI's stand came days after the Supreme Court (a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana) said it had neither approved nor disapproved the revised Form 6, because the issue was never placed before it. The court said it would examine the matter, including the record of how the change was made.
Earlier, the ECI had said that the Supreme Court's May 2026 judgment on the Bihar SIR supported the declaration. Two Election Commissioners had reportedly objected that a form prescribed by the rules cannot be changed without amending the rules.
From 29 September 2026, the declaration was dropped from online Form 6 in states where SIR is not under way. It now applies only in the 13 states where SIR is still in progress.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls
An electoral roll is the official list of voters for a constituency; only people on it can vote. A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a very detailed check in which this list is rebuilt almost from scratch. Officials go house to house, collect forms from every voter and check each person's eligibility before a fresh list is published.
The extra declaration was designed for the SIR, to link a new applicant to an earlier verified voter list. The ECI now says it is a separate SIR document and not a change to Form 6, which is why it has been limited to the states where SIR is still going on.
Election Commission of India (Article 324): Powers and Functions
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is the constitutional body that conducts elections to Parliament, the state legislatures, and the offices of the President and Vice-President. Article 324 gives it the "superintendence, direction and control" of preparing voter lists and conducting these elections. Today it has three members: a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two Election Commissioners (ECs).
Two of the three members reportedly objected to adding the declaration without amending the rules. This brings two questions into focus: how a three-member Commission takes decisions, and how far its Article 324 power to control voter lists can go when a form is already fixed by statutory rules.
Delegated Legislation
Delegated legislation means laws made not by Parliament itself but by the government or another authority, using power that Parliament gives it in a parent Act. Parliament writes the main law and leaves the details, such as rules, regulations and forms, to be filled in by the executive. These rules have the force of law, but they must stay within the limits of the parent Act.
The legal question in the Form 6 dispute is about delegated legislation. If the declaration changes a form fixed by the 1960 Rules, critics argue the Central Government would have to amend those rules. The ECI's answer is that it has not touched Form 6 at all and has only added a separate SIR document, which it says falls within its own powers.
- Form 6: application for inclusion of a new voter's name; prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960
- Registration of Electors Rules, 1960: made under Section 28, RPA 1950, by the Central Government after consulting the ECI; in force from 1 January 1961
- Additional declaration: asks whether the applicant, a parent or a grandparent was in an earlier SIR voter list
- Supreme Court bench: CJI Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana; said it had neither approved nor disapproved the revised Form 6
- Bihar SIR judgment: 27 May 2026
- Declaration removed from online Form 6 in non-SIR states: 29 September 2026; continues in 13 SIR states
- ECI decision rule: Section 18, CEC and Other ECs Act, 2023 (unanimity where possible, otherwise majority)
- Special revision of rolls: Section 21(3), RPA 1950