Supreme Court says it did not approve modified Form 6 for SIR

The Supreme Court on Monday clarified that it had not approved any modified version of Form 6 being used for the enrolment of new voters during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said it would examine the records to determine who introduced the changes after the Election Commission claimed last week that the new declaration attached to the online Form 6 had been approved by the apex court.

“Any modified Form 6 has not been approved by us. Let’s be clear. When the record is produced, we would like to see who has modified it,” the CJI observed.

The clarification came during the hearing of a plea filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi seeking prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and other officials over alleged unilateral decisions concerning the SIR exercise.

The issue relates to a new declaration added to Form 6, under which applicants are required to state whether they or their parents were mapped in the previous SIR. The requirement was not part of the earlier Form 6 used during SIR exercises in other states.

The petitioner has sought an independent judicial inquiry into the alleged decisions and prosecution under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for the petitioner, raised concerns over the changes made to Form 6, which is used by eligible citizens to apply for inclusion of their names in electoral rolls.

The bench issued notice in the matter and tagged the plea with a similar case challenging decisions taken by the Election Commission in connection with the SIR exercise.