Electoral Commission Form 6 introduces parents’ SIR status field for new voters despite no rule change: Report | Today’s news
The Election Commission has added a new section to the online version of Form 6, which is used by first-time voters to register and seek details of the status of the applicant’s parents in relation to the latest Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, The Indian Express reported. The addition is said to have been made without any corresponding change to Statutory Form 6.
Even if the field is not marked as mandatory, users cannot continue with the application unless they respond to it.
Access to the EC ECINET portal on Saturday showed another unnamed section ‘declaration form’ located between sections ‘J’ and ‘K’ of Form 6, the report said, adding that the newly added section seeks information on whether the applicant or his parents appeared in the electoral rolls during the last SIR.
However, the downloadable copy of Form 6 on the same portal, intended for applicants who choose to complete and submit the form offline, does not include this declaration section.
In the online process, applicants are asked to choose from three options: “my name exists in the voter list of the last SIR; my parents’ name (father, mother, grandfather, grandmother) exists in the voter list of the last SIR; neither my name nor my parents’ name is in the voter list of the last SIR”.
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If applicants choose one of the first two options, they have to provide details like assembly constituency, booth number and serial number corresponding to their own entry or that of their family member in the latest SIR. Those who cannot find this information can only choose the third option. However, the portal does not explain the consequences of choosing this option.
When was Form 6 last revised?
Although the Election Commission collected similar information during the SIR exercise conducted in 12 states and union territories last year, as well as the ongoing SIR process in 19 states and union territories through the existing voter roll form, Form 6 for new voters has not been changed since the start of the SIR exercise in June last year, a review of the law ministry’s notification shows.
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Under Section 28 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, it has the power to make and notify election rules to the Central Government. Form 6 is prescribed under one such rule in the Registration of Voters Rules, 1960.
The law is derived from Article 326 of the Constitution, which provides the basis for universal adult suffrage by allowing all adult citizens who are ordinarily residents of a constituency to register as voters unless otherwise disqualified.
Does the EC have the power to amend Form 6?
Section 28 of the RP Act of 1950 states that the Central Government may, after consultation with the Election Commission, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.”
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Previously, any changes to Form 6 were made through amendments to the relevant Act by Parliament and/or through rule amendments notified by the Department of Law and Justice.
According to an Indian Express report, two senior former Election Commission officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said any modification to the form would require at least an amendment and an official notification from the Law Ministry, as the EC does not have the power to make such changes on its own.
“The EC itself cannot even add a comma to the form,” the former official mentioned.
