The Election Commission has introduced a new declaration section on the online Form 6 for new voters, seeking information about the applicant’s parents’ names in the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR) voter list.
According to a latest news report, the new section was visible on the ECINET portal on Saturday. It appears between sections J and K of the online Form 6 and asks applicants to state whether their parents’ names appeared in the last SIR voter list.
Applicants are given three options: their own name was included in the last SIR list; the name of their father, mother, grandfather or grandmother was included; or neither the applicant nor their parents appeared in the list.
For the first two options, applicants have to provide the Assembly constituency, polling booth and electoral roll serial number. The new declaration is not included in the downloadable offline Form 6. Although it is reportedly not marked mandatory, applicants have claimed they cannot proceed online without completing it.
The Election Commission has not yet officially commented on the change.
Former senior election officials told that changes to Form 6 may require an amendment by the Law Ministry and a government notification. They said the Election Commission cannot independently alter the statutory form.
The development has raised questions over the procedure for new voter registration.
