Election Commission changes Form 6 for new voters, inserts section asking them about parents in SIR
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500+ questions on Polity with explanations
📌 Summary:
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EC''s online electors'' registration form (Form 6) on the ECINET portal now carries a new un-lettered "declaration" section (between parts J and K) asking a new applicant about their own or their parents'' status in the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR) — even though the statutory form has not been amended
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Applicant must pick one of three options: own name in last SIR roll; parents'' (father/mother/grandfather/grandmother) name in last SIR roll; or neither — and give Assembly constituency, booth and serial number for the first two; portal is silent on what happens if "neither" is chosen
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Section is not marked mandatory but submission cannot proceed without completing it; visible for all SIR states/UTs except Bihar (first SIR, June last year) and Assam (no SIR)
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Context: over 5.58 crore names deleted in SIR across 10 states and 3 UTs; in West Bengal over 27 lakh electors deleted during adjudication could not vote in the April elections, appeals pending before tribunals
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Legal issue: under Section 28 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, only the Central Government — after consulting the EC — can amend rules/forms via gazette notification; Form 6 flows from the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960; no such notification has been issued
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Former EC officials: the EC "cannot even add a comma to the form on its own"; the downloadable physical Form 6 on the same portal does not carry the new part
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Constitutional anchor: Article 326 guarantees the right of every adult citizen, ordinarily resident and not disqualified, to be enrolled as an elector
🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 — RPA framework, limits of ECI''s rule-making power vs Central Government, SIR and due process in voter registration
📝 Prelims Facts:
- Form 6 = application for inclusion of name by new electors under Registration of Electors Rules, 1960
- Section 28, RPA 1950: Central Govt makes rules after consulting the EC
- Article 326: adult suffrage for Lok Sabha/Assembly elections
🔑 Key Term: Special Intensive Revision (SIR) — EC''s intensive house-to-house revision of electoral rolls requiring enumeration/eligibility declarations, distinct from routine summary revision
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