ECI’s revised Form 6 was not examined by Supreme Court, bench clarifies

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India’s revised Form 6 has not received the Supreme Court’s approval, which said on Monday that it had never examined the changes introduced to the form for new voter registration.

The clarification came during a hearing on a petition questioning the changes and the functioning of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, said the revised declaration was introduced after the court delivered its judgment on Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Justice Bagchi made clear that the earlier ruling could not be treated as a decision on the modified form. The Chief Justice also warned against selectively quoting the court’s observations in news reports.

The revised Form 6 asks applicants to declare whether they or their parents appeared in the previous SIR. The earlier version did not require this disclosure.

The dispute escalated after an ECI statement issued on September 26 indicated that the Supreme Court had upheld the revised declaration in its May 2026 judgment. The court’s latest clarification establishes that the modification was not considered in that ruling.

The changes have also drawn reported objections from two Election Commissioners over whether the ECI could alter the form without an amendment to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the poll panel of making the changes unilaterally to benefit the BJP. The BJP rejected the allegation and maintained that the Supreme Court had not declared the revised form illegal.

With IANS inputs