Form 6 available online was altered illegally, says Rahul Gandhi

In a meeting attended by leaders of as many as 19 political parties and lasting over three-and-a-half hours, it was decided that all opposition MPs would march to the Election Commission of India headquarters on 6 October 2026. Photo credit: PTI

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (Oct 1, 2026) alleged that the online Form 6 used for new voter registration was changed “illegally” and questioned who in the Election Commission ordered Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to make the change.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh alleged that the change in Form 6 was orchestrated by the “PM-HM duo” to remove Gen Z voters from the electoral roll. In an interview given to The Hindu by former Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat, Mr. Ramesh said the chorus of voices against the capture of the electoral system was getting louder.

ERONet application

According to the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Annual Report 2024-25, the EC has partnered with a technology firm to develop a flagship web application ‘ERONEt 2.0’.

Previously, ERONet was managed by the Center for the Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), which falls under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

“ERONet 2.0 application has a centralized database that serves as the single source of truth for the electoral body. An outstanding feature is a powerful dashboard that is updated daily and offers a 360-degree view of the voter lifecycle,” the company said in the customer stories section.

“The ERO Net 2.0 suite of applications includes the BLO mobile application, which plays a key role for all elections in the country. TCS as the primary technology partner has helped the electoral body to digitally transform electoral roll management. The application developed by TCS was rolled out nationwide within 7 months of launch, with complete functionality and data migration. It enables more than 1.05 million statewide officials who have registered to efficiently process updates and deletions and voters,” they stated.

In January 2026, the Electoral Commission (EC) integrated ERONet (Electoral Registration Officers Network) into a comprehensive umbrella platform known as ECINet.

In a post on X, Mr Gandhi said: “Online Form 6 was changed illegally – as noted by the EC’s own commissioners. Who in the ECI ordered Tata Consultancy Services to make this change? He also asked if TCS was ‘pressured’ to do it?”

Mr. Ramesh said, “Form 6 changes were introduced by the CEC unconstitutionally in mid-July 2026 to remove Gen Z voters from the electoral roll. The move was apparently orchestrated by the PM-HM (Narendra Modi-Amit Shah) duo.

According to the 2024–25 reports on contributions of various electoral trusts available on the Election Commission’s website, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received ₹959 crore as political donations from various electoral trusts in 2024–25, of which nearly ₹757 crore came from the total donations of the Tat-control group, which is 8 Progressive Electoral Trust (PET).

Speaking to The Hindu by former Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat, Mr. Ramesh said, “The chorus of voices against the hijacking of the electoral system is getting louder. Citizens will no longer tolerate chori (stealing) votes in any form.”

Mr. Rawat questioned the Special Intensive Review (SIR) and the violations committed by the EC. Nearly 14 million voters have already been disenfranchised by SIR, he said.

The former CEC said in an interview that it was “the first time since Independence that so many eligible voters have lost their vote”. EC used to be the “gold standard” but its credibility has been destroyed, he further said.

Published – 01 Oct 2026 12:34 IST