New Delhi. Information has come to light about the objections lodged within the Election Commission regarding 'Form 6' used to include new voters in the voter list. According to an investigative report by The Indian Express, the Election Commission's two election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, lodged formal objections to the commission's decisions and procedures at least 14 times in the last 10 months.
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According to the report, these objections related to issues like changes in Form 6, registration of new voters, addition and deletion of names in the voter list, Special Intensive Revision (SIR), voter list database and access of officials to the IT system of the Election Commission. Copies of these written objections were also sent to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Controversy regarding changes in Form 6
Form 6 is used to include the names of new voters in the voter list. According to the report, a new declaration related to SIR was added in Form 6 available on the ECINet portal of the Election Commission of India in July 2026. In which the applicant was asked whether his name was in the previous SIR voter list, whether the names of his parents or grandparents were in that list or the names of any of them were not in that list? According to the report, this information part was not considered necessary, but without answering it, the application could not be submitted further.
Vivek Joshi and Sandhu expressed objection
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According to the report, Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi had raised questions on the changes being made in Form 6 in May. His argument was that Form 6 is a statutory form and a change in it would require amendment to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. After this, Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu also agreed with this objection. According to the report, Sandhu later termed the change as unauthorized and illegal on record and demanded its removal and reinstatement of the original Form 6.
Questions on voter list database also
Both election commissioners also expressed concern over access to the voter list database and its centralization. According to the report, questions were raised about the Electoral Registration Officer's access to the electoral database and his role in the centralized IT system. Vivek Joshi stressed the need to audit database access, while Sandhu mentioned complaints about state-level officials not getting full access to the database.
Questions were also raised regarding IT system
The report also mentions Seema Khanna, Director General of IT of the Election Commission. Sandhu questioned whether the IT department had the authority to limit the legal election authority's database access. Apart from this, both the Election Commissioners had written separate letters to the Cabinet Secretary regarding the change in the distribution of work related to the IT infrastructure of the Election Commission.
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Case of SIR process of West Bengal
The matter also reached the ongoing SIR process in West Bengal. According to the report, Sandhu raised questions about the appeals filed against the voters who were included in the electoral roll by the judicial officer.
He asked who gave permission to file these appeals on behalf of the Election Commission and who actually filed them. According to the report, Sandhu said that he, Vivek Joshi and the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal were not informed about the basis of the process.
Case related to 97 voters in Goa
A software related case from Goa has also come to light in the report. According to this, the eligibility decisions related to 97 eligible voters could not be recorded in the digital system on time. Due to this, the names of these voters could not be included in the final voter list.
What did the Election Commission of India say?
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After the report of these objections came out, Election Commission sources said that the comments, questions and suggestions written between the commissioners are part of the decision process. According to the Election Commission of India, all important final decisions of the Commission including SIR are taken unanimously with the approval of the three Commissioners. That is, the Commission says that registering objections and suggestions at different levels is a different matter, whereas the final decisions were taken unanimously. The current three-member Election Commission includes Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi.
Why is the whole matter important?
Form 6 is related to the process of including new voters in the electoral roll. In such a situation, issues like changes made in it, information related to SIR and access of officials to the electoral database are important for the functioning of the electoral process.
Currently, in the report that has come out, on one hand there are objections lodged by two Election Commissioners, while on the other hand the Election Commission of India says that the final decisions were taken unanimously. Now the action taken on these objections and the information emerging regarding the legal process of change in Form 6 will be monitored.