New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday made it clear that it had not approved any modified version of Form 6, used for enrolling new voters in electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant made the observation while hearing a plea seeking suspension and prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
"Any modified Form 6 has not been approved by us. Let's be clear. When the record is produced, we would like to see who has modified," Kant observed during the hearing.
Earlier, in a press statement issued on September 26 after a key meeting, the Election Commission had said, "The declaration attached to Form 6 for SIR has been upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. For non-SIR period, the Forms applicable as per Rules (the Registration of Electors Rules 1960) will be used."
A key grievance concerns the alteration of Form 6 during SIR of electoral rolls. Commissioner Joshi had allegedly objected that the form could not be changed to require SIR-linked disclosures without an amendment to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, an objection subsequently endorsed by Sandhu.
The petition also raised concerns over the alleged centralisation of the electoral-roll database and access to ERONet/ECINet by statutory field-level authorities. Joshi had proposed an independent audit of database access credentials, while Sandhu later questioned the authority of the ECI's Director General (IT) to restrict access available to statutory electoral officers. Another issue concerns appeals filed in the name of the ECI before West Bengal Appellate Tribunals against voters whose inclusion had been directed by judicial officers. (ANI)
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