Explainer: Why the Election Commission’s Form 6 for new voters has triggered a legal row

On Monday, the Supreme Court brought fresh clarity to the controversy over Form 6, the application used by new voters to get their names added to the electoral roll. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said that the court had not approved any modified version of the form.

Kant was hearing petitions seeking that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar be suspeneded for allegedly taking unilateral decisions about procedures related to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls across the country.

The Election Commission had claimed in a statement on September 26 that a declaration attached to Form 6 for the special intensive revision had been upheld by the Supreme Court.

In June 2025, when the SIR began in Bihar , the Election Commission prescribed a separate Annexure D to accompany Form 6. That declaration dealt with the applicant’s age, residence, citizenship and supporting documents.

When the Bihar SIR was challenged before the Supreme Court, this declaration formed was included as documentation in the petitions contending that the Election Commission had exceeded its powers in the manner in which it had conducted the exercise.

In its judgment on May 27, the court upheld the commission’s right to conduct the SIR and recognised its authority to devise a documentation framework suited to such an exercise, subject to limits under the...

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