Congress calls Form 6 online change ‘illegal’, seeks Supreme Court intervention

• Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Election Commission added a mandatory declaration to the online Form 6 in July without an official notification.

• He argued that the Commission could not change the form unilaterally and said two Election Commissioners had sought its withdrawal.

• The Congress leader urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance and hold Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar accountable.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday questioned a change to the online voter registration process, alleging that the Election Commission had added a mandatory declaration to Form 6 without following the procedure required to amend it.

In a post on X, Ramesh said the online form was altered in early July to ask applicants whether their parents or grandparents had been included in an earlier Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He called the change “totally illegal” and said it could make registration harder for young and first-time voters.

Ramesh contrasted the new requirement with the Election Commission’s direction to officials to organise special enrolment camps for young voters and publicise them on social media. He argued that encouraging registration while adding a further condition to the online process was contradictory.

Citing the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, Ramesh said the power to amend Form 6 lay with the central government, not the Election Commission acting on its own. He claimed that any change to the prescribed form would require an amendment to the rules and communication to Parliament. The rules, including Form 6, are published by the government.

The Congress leader also claimed that two Election Commissioners had sought to withdraw the online change, describing it as “illegal and unauthorised”. He called on the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the matter and fix accountability, alleging that constitutional conventions and laws passed by Parliament had been breached during Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s tenure.

With PTI inputs