EC drops contested SIR declaration from Form 6 amid reports of internal differences

New Delhi: The Election Commission has taken a step back in the dispute over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. A declaration linked to SIR had been added to Form 6, which new voters must fill in to register. The Commission has now removed it.

Objections were raised to the declaration because it imposed a condition on applicants to provide additional information. It has also come to light that there were differences within the Commission on the issue.

The separate declaration had been inserted in Form 6 between sections "J" and "K". Through it, applicants were asked for details of their parents and other family members. A condition was also set that if parents' details were not available, other information about the family had to be given. The additional declaration caused confusion about the voter registration process and raised questions. The Commission then decided to take it out of Form 6.

It is being said that the emphasis will now be on handling the registration of new voters and SIR as two separate processes.

Meanwhile, a report has claimed that over the past ten months, both Election Commissioners objected to several key decisions of the Commission. It is reported that because of differences between them, some decisions had to be changed and some instructions withdrawn.

In the past five weeks, several decisions of the Commission have been altered. Questions were also raised about the Commission's meetings and the way it takes decisions. The process for registering overseas Indian voters, and the documents required for it, were also reconsidered. Changes were made to the newly introduced technical systems and portals for electoral roll work. The issue of getting the functioning of the ECINET system audited also came up for discussion.

While the exercise to clean up electoral rolls is under way across the country, the Commission is having to change its own decisions repeatedly. This is raising questions about its way of working.