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The Election Commission of India (ECI) has restored the original online process for Form 6, meaning new voters in states where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is not underway can now apply for registration without filling in an additional declaration linked to the revision exercise.
The change means applicants in states where SIR has either been completed or is yet to begin will only have to submit the standard Form 6 for fresh voter registration. The separate declaration seeking details of the applicant’s parents or grandparents and their linkage to electoral rolls from the previous SIR will apply only in states where the SIR process is currently underway.
The change was reflected on the Election Commission’s voters’ services portal on Tuesday, September 29. Form 6 is the prescribed application for inclusion of a person’s name in the electoral roll as a new voter.
The decision follows concerns raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over the additional declaration. The two commissioners had questioned the requirement, particularly because applicants filling in Form 6 online were unable to submit their applications without completing the declaration.
Under the revised process, the additional declaration has been separated from the standard Form 6. Applicants in states where SIR is ongoing will have to complete the declaration as part of the SIR process, while those in other states will not have to provide the additional details.
The declaration had been introduced during the SIR process to establish a link between an applicant or their parents and electoral rolls from the previous intensive revision. During SIR, Form 6 was also used by people whose names had been left out during the enumeration exercise to seek inclusion in the electoral roll. The ECI’s SIR documents provide for Form 6 to be submitted along with the prescribed declaration during the claims and objections period.
The controversy arose after the additional declaration was made mandatory for online submission of Form 6, effectively requiring new applicants to provide information that was linked to the previous SIR even in places where the revision exercise was not underway.
Sandhu and Joshi had raised concerns that Form 6 is prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and that changes to the statutory form could not be made by the Commission without the prescribed legal process. The Election Commission, however, has maintained that Form 6 itself was not amended and that the declaration was an additional document introduced for the SIR exercise.
The Commission said the declaration had been approved by the full Commission when the SIR was first undertaken in Bihar and was subsequently approved for the later phases as well.
The issue also came under scrutiny after former Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale cited a response to a Right to Information query from the Ministry of Law and Justice. The ministry's Legislative Department said it did not have information on any proposal from the ECI to amend Form 6 or the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, to incorporate an SIR-related declaration.
The ECI has maintained that the Supreme Court, in its May 27, 2026 order, upheld its power to prescribe additional documentation during an SIR. However, the precise legal status of the declaration attached to Form 6 has remained a point of dispute.
For voters, the immediate change is that the additional SIR declaration is no longer a universal requirement for online Form 6 applications. A person seeking first-time voter registration in a state where SIR is not currently underway can submit the standard Form 6 without providing the additional SIR-related details. The ECI’s standard Form 6 requires basic information such as the applicant's name, relative's details, date of birth, address, and supporting documents.
