The Election Commission of India (ECI) has termed allegations by Rahul Gandhi that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar illegally and unilaterally changed Form 6 during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as “misleading”.
That issue was at the centre of proceedings in the Supreme Court on Monday. Let’s be clear. In a post on X on Monday, the poll body responded to allegations made by the Leader of Opposition, who had cited an earlier statement issued by the poll body concerning the declaration attached to Form 6. It also pointed to a Supreme Court judgment of May 27, 2026, saying the court had upheld that order. The Commission further said that a statement contained in its September 26 press note — Point 1(iii) said, “The declaration attached to Form 6 for SIR has been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. But the Commission’s response did not directly address the central allegation raised by Gandhi which was whether the specific modified version of Form 6 currently being used was introduced by the Chief Election Commissioner without proper approval. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, said it would examine the official record to determine who had introduced the changes after the Election Commission claimed last week that the new declaration attached to the online version of Form 6 had received the Supreme Court’s approval. “Any modified Form 6 has not been approved by us.
The ECI said the order launching the SIR exercise in Bihar on June 24, 2025, had been issued with the “unanimous approval” of the Commission. When the record is produced, we would like to see who has modified it,” the Chief Justice said during the hearing.
