Election Commission Rift: Two Commissioners' Objections, a Form 6 Climbdown and a Supreme Court Rebuke

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said it never approved changes to Form 6, the form used to register new voters, during the Election Commission's revision of electoral rolls, the latest turn in a fortnight-long row over divisions inside the Commission.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana said on October 5 that "any modification to Form 6 had not been approved by the court" and sought records to establish who had made the changes, All India Radio reported. The bench issued notice on a public interest petition and tagged it with another on the same issue.

Fourteen objections in ten months

The row began on September 23, when a newspaper report revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected at least 14 times over ten months to decisions issued without their knowledge, The Week reported. The objections covered amendments to Form 6, additions and deletions in the electoral rolls, and central control of the voter database.

The Commission rejected any suggestion of irregularity. "All orders carry full legal sanction. Any operational queries raised by Commission members during draft stages are part of standard administrative practice," it said, according to The News Mill. The BJP's Sambit Patra said that "all three Commissioners were unanimous; there was no difference of opinion or dissent among them".

The Form 6 declaration

At the centre of the dispute is a declaration added to the online version of Form 6 during the special revision of the rolls, known as the SIR. It asked applicants whether their own or their parents' names appeared in the rolls of an earlier revision, down to the Assembly constituency and polling booth, Outlook reported.

The two commissioners called the change illegal, because it was introduced without formally amending the statutory form under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, which requires the Union government's authorisation. On September 30, the Commission removed the declaration in states where the final revised rolls have been published, keeping it where the revision is still under way.

The Commission had said in a press release that the Supreme Court upheld Form 6 in its May 2026 judgment on the Bihar revision. The court's October 5 clarification contradicts that. The petition before it also alleges that changes were introduced through the Commission's software without following the statutory procedure, and without the concurrence of the other two commissioners.

A third removal attempt

Opposition parties in the INDIA bloc are drafting a fresh notice in both Houses of Parliament seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, The Week reported. It would be their third attempt; an earlier notice signed by 73 MPs on April 24 is still pending in the Rajya Sabha.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: "Two out of three Election Commissioners objected in writing 14 times. Misuse of Form 6, misuse of software, tampering with voter lists." Rahul Gandhi called the alleged manipulation "a crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our constitution", and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said it would be "an act of treason" if the Chief Election Commissioner knew of irregularities. Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee demanded "immediate removal of the CEC and a court-monitored investigation".

Outside Parliament, the Indian Youth Congress has started an online petition and student activists have protested in Delhi. The reports of the October 5 hearing did not mention a date for the next one.