New Delhi, Sep 24 – In a statement released on Thursday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) reiterated that individuals submitting an additional declaration form together with Form 6 or Form 8 are not required to provide any other documents. The commission said the provision, which had received unanimous approval, was referenced during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and other states and Union Territories.
The ECI clarified that the SIR is being carried out under section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, a practice upheld by many courts. It noted that the SIR order for Bihar, dated 24 June 2025, contained the provision for Form 6 alongside the declaration form, and that a similar order issued on 27 October 2025 for 12 states and Union Territories, and an earlier order dated 14 May for 19 states and Union Territories, also included the same provision with unanimous approval.
The commission cited the Supreme Court’s decision in the ADR vs. ECI writ petition 640/2025, which upheld the requirement for new voters to submit Form 6 together with a Declaration Form (Annexure D). The court stated that the SIR exercise does not conflict with the Representation of the People Act or the 1960 Rules, and that the declaration form was introduced to prevent the need for additional documents for new voters.
ECINet, described by the ECI as a decentralised platform compliant with the RP Acts and the commission’s instructions, allows authorized officers such as BLOs, AEROs, EROs, DEOs and CEOs to perform their statutory functions using unique IDs and passwords. The commission denied that other officers of the ECI could use the platform and highlighted cybersecurity measures that were employed during the recent legislative assembly elections, during which the system faced 68 lakh attempts to hack it.
