Supreme Court says Election Commission cannot alter voter registration forms

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Election Commission of India (ECI) cannot alter Forms 6, 7 and 8, questioning why existing voters in Delhi were being asked to submit Form 6, meant for new voters, during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, also questioned the October 30 deadline for applications, noting that no election was due in Delhi in the near future.

“Do not set a cut-off date for the re-enrolment of names,” the bench said.

The court asked the ECI to devise a simpler process for people who were already on the electoral rolls but could not submit their enumeration forms. It said such voters should not be treated as new voters if their names were missing from the revised lists.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, said many voters had either not received enumeration forms or could not submit them for various reasons, including relocation within Delhi.

He argued that Form 8 is intended for changes of address, while Form 6 is meant for new voter registration. Requiring existing voters to use Form 6 would compel them to declare that they had not previously been included in an electoral roll.

The Chief Justice said the ECI should actively reach out to voters rather than simply wait for them to submit applications. He urged the Commission to adopt the simplest solution while continuing to accept applications through Forms 6 and 8.

The petitions were filed by transparency activists Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri.

According to the petitioners, Delhi had around 1.45 crore voters when the SIR began. About 97 lakh enumeration forms were submitted, while forms for approximately 47 lakh voters were not received.

Bhushan said the ECI had classified around 43 lakh voters as permanently shifted or absent. Of these, about 31.59 lakh were marked as permanently shifted and around 11 lakh as missing or untraceable. Another two lakh voters were listed as deceased.

He argued that many could have been unable to submit their forms because they had never received them.