Form 6, ECINET and the SIR Row: Electoral Roll Revision Under Scrutiny

1. Form 6, ECINET and the SIR Row: Electoral Roll Revision Under Scrutiny

Basic Concept

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a permanent constitutional body set up under Article 324 of the Constitution, vested with the "superintendence, direction and control" of elections to Parliament, state legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President. Since 1993, it has functioned as a multi-member body comprising a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two Election Commissioners (ECs), all enjoying equal decision-making powers in Commission matters, with disagreements resolved by majority vote. Their appointment and service conditions are now governed by the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.

A fundamental duty of the ECI is preparing and maintaining accurate electoral rolls, a function rooted in the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and operationalised through the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Every ordinarily resident citizen aged 18 or above is entitled to register as a voter, and "Form 6" is the statutory application prescribed for this purpose, used by first-time voters and those shifting constituencies. Because it is a statutory form notified under subordinate legislation, any change to its content or requirements is expected to follow a formal rule-amendment process, not an administrative or technical tweak.

Electoral rolls are usually kept current through an annual "Summary Revision," a limited exercise of additions, deletions and corrections. A "Special Intensive Revision" (SIR), by contrast, is a far more sweeping, door-to-door re-verification that effectively reconstructs the roll afresh, requiring most or all existing electors to re-establish their eligibility with fresh documentary proof. The ECI first deployed SIR at this scale in Bihar in 2025 ahead of the state's Assembly election, and the exercise triggered litigation over the risk of wrongful exclusion of genuine voters, particularly the poor, migrants, and those without easy access to legacy documents. The Supreme Court, hearing petitions on the Bihar and subsequently the West Bengal SIR, has repeatedly intervened: in a notable April 2026 order it invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to ensure verified voters were not excluded from West Bengal's revised rolls, and it has also directed serving and retired district judges to assist the EC's field machinery. SIR therefore sits at the intersection of the ECI's administrative autonomy, the statutory electoral-roll framework, and active judicial oversight — making it one of the more consequential and recurring governance stories for current UPSC preparation.

Core Context

On 1 October 2026, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, directly confronted the ECI over a procedural change made to the online version of Form 6 hosted on ECINET, the Commission's electoral-services portal. The modification added a fresh declaration requiring an applicant to state whether their own name, or that of a parent or grandparent, had appeared in the electoral roll prepared during an earlier SIR. Gandhi argued that this amounted to an illegal alteration of a statutory form carried out without due process, and pointedly asked: "Who at the ECI ordered Tata Consultancy Services to make that change? Who at TCS signed off on it? And were they pressured into doing it?" TCS is the ECI's technology partner responsible for maintaining and updating the ECINET platform.

The charge draws strength from an internal disagreement within the Commission itself. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi are reported to have recorded objections on as many as 14 occasions over roughly 10 months, arguing that the statutory Form 6 could not be modified, even indirectly through a linked declaration, without following the legally prescribed rule-amendment procedure, and that several SIR-related decisions had been issued without being placed before the full three-member Commission for collective deliberation. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh went further, alleging that CEC Gyanesh Kumar had introduced the change in mid-July 2026 with the intent of discouraging or disqualifying young, first-time ("Gen Z") voters from registering. These remain opposition allegations and have not been independently adjudicated. The ECI, for its part, has maintained that the statutory Form 6 itself was never altered and that only a supplementary, SIR-linked declaration was appended, which it insists carried "full legal sanction" and followed established statutory procedure; it has also since withdrawn the declaration requirement in states where the revision process stood completed.

Latest Developments

• Rahul Gandhi's public questions on 1 October 2026 escalated a dispute that had been simmering inside the Commission for nearly a year, bringing it into open political contestation just as SIR exercises continue to roll out across more states.

• Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi are reported to have objected 14 times over 10 months to SIR-related decisions being finalised without full three-member consultation, an unusually persistent internal dissent for a body that has traditionally projected unanimity.

• The disputed declaration asked applicants to confirm whether their name, or a parent's or grandparent's name, had featured in the electoral roll from an earlier SIR round — a requirement the opposition says effectively shifts the burden of proving lineage-based continuity onto the citizen.

• The ECI has defended the change as a procedural addition linked to SIR rather than an amendment to the statutory Form 6, and asserts all its orders carry full legal backing; it has withdrawn the declaration in states where the revision cycle is already complete.

• The INDIA bloc, representing a large number of opposition parties, has demanded CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation and announced a march to ECI headquarters on 6 October 2026 to press its demands.

• The episode follows the Supreme Court's sustained judicial oversight of SIR in West Bengal, including its April 2026 invocation of Article 142 to safeguard verified voters and its directions enlisting district judges to support the revision exercise ahead of the state's 2026 Assembly election.

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• The Election Commission of India derives its powers from Article 324 of the Constitution and has functioned as a multi-member body (CEC plus two ECs) since 1993.

• Appointment and service conditions of the CEC and ECs are now governed by the CEC and other ECs (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.

• Form 6 is the statutory form for fresh voter registration, prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, framed pursuant to the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

• A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) differs from the routine annual Summary Revision by requiring door-to-door re-verification and fresh proof of eligibility for most or all existing electors.

• SIR was first implemented at scale in Bihar (2025) and has since been extended to other states, including West Bengal, ahead of its 2026 Assembly election.

• Article 142 empowers the Supreme Court to pass any order necessary for "complete justice"; it was invoked in April 2026 regarding West Bengal's revised electoral rolls.

• ECINET is the ECI's online electoral-services portal; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is its technology implementation partner.