2 hrs ago
Election Commissioners Objected to Unauthorised Changes in Form 6
Form 6 is the application that new voters use to register.
A new question was added about whether the applicant or their family appeared on an old electoral roll.
Applicants had to answer the question before submitting the form.
Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu said this change was not legally authorised.
They said the Government needed to approve changes to the rules first.
Sandhu later asked officials to remove the change and restore the original form.
The question could be difficult for young people whose families were not on the old rolls.
The report says voting eligibility is based on a person’s age, citizenship and residence, not their family’s past appearance on a roll.
It also notes that an earlier change to Form 6 was made through a formal notification by the Law Ministry.
A new Form 6 declaration asked first-time voters about their family’s presence in electoral rolls from the last SIR.
Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu said the statutory form could not be changed without amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
Joshi said the proposal should be sent to the Government, while Sandhu later called the portal changes “unauthorised” and “illegal.”
The declaration was not marked mandatory, but applicants could not submit Form 6 without answering it.
The report said the change could burden eligible young voters whose parents or grandparents were absent from earlier rolls.
- Who
- Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu objected to the Form 6 change; Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was copied on Sandhu’s later note.
- What
- A declaration linked to the last Special Intensive Revision was added to Form 6, and commissioners said it was unauthorised because the statutory form had not been legally amended.
- Where
- The declaration appeared on the Election Commission’s ECINet portal.
- When
- Joshi recorded his objections on May 16, Sandhu concurred on May 19, the change was reported on July 12, and Sandhu raised the issue again on August 13.
- Why
- The commissioners said Form 6 could not be altered without amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and warned that the change could harass eligible first-time voters.
Key facts
- Affected form
- Form 6, used by new voters to register.
- Added declaration
- Applicants had to indicate whether their own, a parent’s or grandparent’s name appeared in the electoral roll from the last SIR, or whether none appeared.
- Legal framework
- Form 6 is prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
- Commissioner’s objection
- Vivek Joshi said Form 6 could not be altered without amending the rules.
- Second objection
- Sukhbir Singh Sandhu agreed with Joshi and later called the portal changes “unauthorised/illegal.”
- Required approval
- Joshi said the proposal should be sent to the Government for changes to the rules.
- Earlier legal change
- The Law Ministry’s Legislative Department notified related Form 6 changes on June 17, 2022, after Parliament amended the Representation of the People Act in 2021.
Quotes
Sukhbir Singh Sandhu
Election Commissioner who objected to the Form 6 changes and urged their removal
“must be removed immediately so that young and would-be first time voters, who are otherwise eligible, can register themselves as voters as per law, without any harassment”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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