Declaration part of Form 6 changed since SIR in Bihar

In Bihar, the declaration form was sought to confirm the exact time period of the birth of a new voter, whether it was before 1987, between 1987 and 2004, or after 2004, based on which the prospective voter had to submit documents. File. | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap The declaration accompanying Form 6, which was introduced for the first time during the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar last year, has undergone substantial changes in the later phases.The Election Commission of India (ECI) uses Form 6 for fresh voter registrations.In Bihar, the declaration form was sought to confirm the exact time period of the birth of a new voter, whether it was before 1987, between 1987 and 2004, or after 2004, based on which the prospective voter had to submit documents.For those born before July 1, 1987, only the applicant’s own document was needed to prove date and/or place of birth; for those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, the applicant needed their own document, along with one parent’s document (either father’s or mother’s); and for those born after December 2, 2004, the applicant needed their own document, with documents for both parents (father’s and mother’s) establishing date/place of birth.If either parent was not an Indian citizen, a copy of that parent’s valid passport and visa (valid at the time of the applicant’s birth) also had to be submitted. This was keeping in mind citizenship laws.Change in second phaseIn the second phase of SIR, new voters filling out Form 6 had to declare whether their or their parents’ names appeared in the last SIR. They also had to give the Assembly constituency number and polling booth number and the serial number at which the names appeared in the electoral rolls of the last SIR.Editorial | Deep rot: On the Election Commission of India’s functioning during its SIRWhile filling the form online in the second phase, if the applicant did not have this information, they could choose the third option, on the ECINet portal. Though the field was not formally marked “mandatory”, in practice applicants could not submit the online form without completing it. This addition in the form continued in the third phase, which was announced in May this year.It is this issue that Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu flagged in separate notes and letters in May 2026 and August 2026, respectively.Form 6 is attached to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Since it is part of an official rule, it legally counts as part of that rule — the ECI cannot redesign it on its own. Only the Union government (through the Ministry of Law and Justice, since these rules come under the Representation of the People Act, 1950) has the power to amend the rules, and therefore Form 6 too.With complete approvalECI officials maintain that adding a separate declaration form with Form 6 and Form 8 (used for changing particulars) had been approved by the full three-member commission when the SIR process began in Bihar last year and was again ratified in the second and third phases.They said that Form 6 in itself was never amended; only a declaration was added. What happened in the online module for filing the form was that the IT department made changes so that a person filling the form does not have to e-sign twice while doing it and can proceed to the declaration having signed in only once, they claimed.The ECI officials also said that the power to add the declaration form was upheld by the Supreme Court on May 27 this year. Published - September 25, 2026 10:37 pm IST