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Form 6 is a legal application used to include a person's name in the voter list in India.
Especially for people voting for the first time. The current controversy is over an additional declaration form added to the online registration process, in which information was sought about the name of the applicant or his/her parents as well as grandparents in any previous voter list.
The matter of who actually gave the approval for its addition is now under consideration of the Supreme Court.
use of form 6
Form 6 contains the information required for registration of an eligible voter. Like name, date of birth, address and other related details. This form is prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
Therefore, it cannot be considered as just an online form which the Election Commission can freely change as per its convenience.
According to the Election Commission, any Indian citizen who has completed or is about to complete 18 years of age on any one of the four qualifying dates i.e. January 1, April 1, July 1 or October, can apply through Form 6. Provided that he is a resident of the concerned constituency and is not ineligible on any other ground.
Your 18th birthday does not have to be on January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1. You must be 18 years of age or older on the relevant qualifying date. These are age cutoff dates, not specific birthday dates or exclusive application dates.
For example, if you turn 18 on February 15, 2026, you were 17 years old on January 1, but you will be 18 years old on April 1. Therefore, April 1, 2026 will be your first applicable qualifying date. You don't have to wait till January 2027.
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According to an investigation by The Indian Express, a section related to SIR was added to the online process, in which applicants had to choose one of three options.
Was the name of the applicant in the voter list prepared during the previous SIR?
Were the parents or grandparents named in that previous voter list?
Name of the applicant's parents or grandparents was not in that previous list?
These three options were mentioned in the investigation. Importantly, this section was not declared mandatory, but according to the report, without answering it, the applicant could not submit his application.
Based on the response, details related to the old voter list could be sought from the applicant or his relative, such as name and relation of the relative, EPIC number, state, district, assembly constituency, part number and serial number.
For example, an 18-year-old could not himself be a voter during the SIR in the early 2000s. Therefore, due to this additional question, the past of his parents or grandparents became relevant to the registration process.
This raised questions about those families whose names were not in the old voter lists. However, the absence of name in the old voter list does not in itself prove that a person is ineligible to become a voter today.
Who changed it?
There are two different questions here. Who added additional conditions to the online process and who has the authority to legally make changes in Form 6.
The additional section appeared on the ECINet registration portal of the Election Commission.
The Election Commission has admitted the existence of additional SIR declaration forms, but says it has not made any changes in the statutory Form 6.
According to the information available so far, it is not conclusively clear who approved the change in the software.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's name has come up in the context of allegations of taking unilateral decisions, but there is no judicial finding that he personally ordered this change.
Under Section 28 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Central Government makes or changes the relevant rules after consultation with the Election Commission. Statutory changes require prescribed notification and parliamentary procedure.
According to the Indian Express report, the other two election commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu had raised objections to this. Both of them said that the statutory form cannot be changed without changing the rules of 1960.
Following the amendment in the election law in 2021, the Legislative Department of the Law Ministry formally notified the related amendments in the rules and Form 6 on June 17, 2022. This was a formal legal amendment, while the current online change is controversial.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi has targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar regarding this change.
Rahul Gandhi has written on Twitter, "It is now completely clear that Gyanesh Kumar made changes in Form 6 illegally and unilaterally. This is another proof that he misused his position to help BJP. He and all others involved in this criminal attack on democracy will be held accountable.
In response to this post of Rahul Gandhi, the Election Commission said, "The order to conduct SIR in Bihar on June 24, 2025 was issued with the unanimous approval of the Election Commission." This order has been upheld by the Honorable Supreme Court of India in its decision dated 27 May 2026.
In point 1(iii) of its Press Note No. 120 issued on 26 September 2026, the Election Commission has said that the declaration form attached with Form 6 for SIR has been upheld by the Honorable Supreme Court."
Timeline of the controversy
24 June 2025: Election Commission ordered SIR in Bihar. A separate declaration form called Annexure D was placed with the applications for new enrollment.
May 16, 2026: Vivek Joshi recorded that statutory Forms 6 and 8 cannot be changed through SIR order or guidelines. He recommended sending the proposal to the government for amending the rules.
19 May 2026: Sukhbir Singh Sandhu agreed with Joshi's objection to the file.
27 May 2026: The Supreme Court upheld the right of the Election Commission to conduct SIR in Bihar and accepted some rights of the Commission to prepare the documentary process, but said that these rights are not unlimited.
August 13, 2026: Sandhu demands removal of alleged "unauthorized/illegal changes" and warns against harassing first-time voters.
23 September 2026: The Indian Express published its investigation over the objections of the election commissioners.
26 September 2026: The Election Commission said that the SIR declaration form has been upheld by the Supreme Court and the normal statutory forms will apply outside the period of SIR.
October 5, 2026: The Supreme Court clearly said that it has not approved the revised Form 6 and sought records to find out who changed it.
What are the issues currently in dispute?
1. Was this an amendment or a separate manifesto?
Critics and reported internal records of both election commissioners say that adding a mandatory additional question to the application process was effectively a change to the statutory form and required amendments to the rules. The Election Commission says that no changes were made in Form 6 and there was a separate requirement related to the declaration form SIR.
2. Did the Supreme Court approve it?
The Election Commission had cited the decision of Bihar SIR in its statement of 26 September. But the declaration that was considered in that case was 'Annexer D' attached to the order of June 2025.
In the reporting, this has been said to be different from the declaration added later, in which information was sought about the names of the applicant and his relatives in the previous SIR voter list.
On October 5, Chief Justice Surya Kant clearly said, “We have not approved any revised Form 6. This is clear. When the records are produced, we would like to see who modified it."
This clarification is important, but it is not yet a final decision that the disputed manifesto is illegal. The court is examining the records and the approval process.
3. Does this impose additional burden on eligible voters?
The concern is that first-time voters whose family names are not in the old voter lists may have to go through additional uncertainty or verification processes. Sandhu's objection also sought to protect eligible young applicants from being harassed.
However, in the third option, the applicant could state that his or her concerned family members' names were not in the old list. Therefore, it would not be correct to say that having the names of parents or grandparents in the old list was a mandatory condition for voter registration.
4. Was the collective decision process sidelined in the Election Commission?
A related petition alleges that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar took unilateral decisions despite objections from other election commissioners. On October 5, the Supreme Court issued a notice in this matter and also attached the petition related to Form 6 with it. However, the court did not stop the functioning of the Chief Election Commissioner in the interim. These allegations are still pending in the court.
According to reports, in states and union territories where SIR has been completed, this additional declaration has been removed from the online application. The Election Commission says this applies during the SIR, while the normal statutory Form 6 applies outside the SIR.
At present the main unresolved questions are – What was the legal basis of this additional declaration, who authorized it and did the Election Commission exceed the limits of its powers by adding it to the online process?
What is Form 7?
Form 7 is used to make a request for deletion of a name from the electoral roll or to lodge an objection to the inclusion of a person's name in the electoral roll.
At the same time, Form 8 is used by an already registered voter to transfer his registration, make corrections in information, change Voter ID card or register disability information.
The main difference is that Form 7 is for challenging or deleting an entry, while Form 8 is for making changes or updating the registration of an existing voter.
There are three main uses of Form 7-
Request to delete the name of another person already registered in the voter list.
Objection to inclusion of name of another person in the voter list.
Request to remove your name from the voter list.
The following grounds are given in the form for removing the name of another person:
The registered voter has died.
The person does not meet the voting age eligibility.
Absent/permanently transferred person no longer resides at the address where his name is registered.
An already registered person is further registered at the same or some other place.
The person does not fulfill the essential conditions of citizenship.
What is Form 8?
Change of residence: You have moved to a new address and want to transfer your voter registration to the new address.
Correction in details: Correction in the information entered in the voter list or voter ID.
Change of Voter ID Card: New EPIC required without changing existing details.
Entering disability information: Disability status has to be recorded in the electoral records.
EPIC means Electors Photo Identity Card i.e. Voter ID Card.
For example, if an already registered voter moves from Patna to Noida, he should get his registration transferred to the new address through Form 8 instead of filling Form 6 as a new voter.
Which form when?
To register as a voter for the first time – Form 6
Objection to any name or request for deletion of name - Form 7
Already registered and address changed - Form 8
Your information in the voter list is incorrect - Form 8
Voter ID is lost or damaged – Form 8
Information about disability has to be filed – Form 8
