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EC Drops Roll-Mapping Rule for Form 6 Outside SIR States

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The Election Commission says fresh voters filing Form 6 outside the 12 states and UTs under special intensive revision no longer need a roll-mapping declaration.

NEW DELHI: People signing up as new voters through Form 6 in most of the country will no longer have to attach a declaration linking themselves or a relative to the last special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. The relaxation applies everywhere except the 12 states and Union Territories where an SIR is currently running, the Election Commission said in a statement on Saturday.

The three-member commission said the mapping declaration will stay in force only in the areas covered by the ongoing revision. There, applicants must still list their own or a relative's details from the last SIR rolls, along with the names of their father, mother and spouse and the corresponding EPIC numbers where they have them. Outside those states, the commission said, enrolment will follow the standard forms set out in the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

According to sources, the switch back to the older, pre-SIR version of Form 6 takes effect immediately in non-SIR states and UTs. That group includes states heading into elections early next year. A special summary revision of the rolls is due to be carried out in those poll-bound states later this year.

A declaration born in Bihar

The extra declaration was first bolted onto Form 6 through the SIR order for Bihar, issued on June 24, 2025. Its content has shifted since then. The original Bihar version asked applicants to state their own or their parents' date and place of birth and to back it up with documents drawn from a list of 11 - a list the order described as not exhaustive. For later phases of the revision, the requirement was reworked: instead of asking for proof of citizenship, it asked new voters to map themselves to the previous SIR.

The commission defended keeping the declaration in the revision states, saying the version attached to Form 6 for SIR purposes has been upheld by the Supreme Court.

Commissioners' notes and Congress objections

The change follows months of internal friction over who has the authority to alter the form. Election commissioners S.S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi each sent notes to the deputy election commissioner handling the matter - Sandhu in May and Joshi in August - arguing that Form 6 can be amended only by the government. Both had earlier signed off on the declaration as part of three separate SIR orders.

Joshi first flagged concerns about the revised format on May 16. Sandhu backed the new version on August 13, after the Supreme Court had cleared the SIR process. The objections were later picked up by opposition parties, with the Congress leading the charge and alleging that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had changed Form 6 "unilaterally."

The commission used Saturday's statement to push back on that account. It placed on record that all three SIR orders were approved unanimously by the CEC and the two commissioners: the June 24, 2025 order for Phase 1 in Bihar; the October 27, 2025 order for Phase 2 covering 12 states; and the May 14, 2026 order for the ongoing Phase 3 in 19 states and UTs. To leave no room for dispute, the commission said Saturday's statement itself carried the approval of the full commission.

The practical effect is a split system. In the 12 states and UTs still under revision, first-time applicants continue to file the fuller Form 6 with its mapping declaration and parental details. Everywhere else, they revert to the plain form that existed before the revision drive began, easing the paperwork for fresh enrolment in the run-up to the summary revision in the states voting early next year.

Election Commission, Form 6, special intensive revision, SIR, voter enrolment, Gyanesh Kumar, electoral rolls, India elections

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