NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday issued clarifications on two most contentious issues, changes to Form 6 and the functioning of its digital platform, ECINET, amid reports of differences within the three-member poll panel.
On Form 6, the ECI said the decision to introduce a declaration form along with the application was taken unanimously and maintained that the measure was in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
A senior ECI official said the Commission conducts special revisions of electoral rolls under Section 21(3) of the 1950 Act, a provision that, according to the official, has been upheld by courts across the country.
The official said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) order for Bihar, issued on June 24, 2025, included the provision for Form 6 along with a declaration form, with the “unanimous approval” of the Commission. The same provision was included in the SIR order issued for 12 States and Union Territories on October 27, 2025 and subsequently in the order dated May 14, 2026, under which SIR was undertaken in 19 States and UTs.
The ECI also said the Supreme Court had upheld the Commission’s power to introduce the declaration form in its May 27, 2026 order in the ADR vs ECI writ petition.
According to the official, the declaration form was introduced to make the process easier for voters. Those submitting the declaration would not be required to furnish additional documents, and the provision had been applied uniformly across all States and UTs covered by the SIR.
The ECI also sought to clarify the functioning of ECINET, describing it as a decentralised platform designed in accordance with the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951, as well as instructions issued by the Commission from time to time.
The official said Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), District Election Officers (DEOs) and Chief Electoral Officers (CEO) could perform their statutory functions on ECINET using their individual user IDs and passwords.
“No one else can perform their statutory function on ECINET, including any other officer of the ECI,” the official said.
The Commission further said that cyber security for ECINET was being handled by the ECI to protect the platform from malicious hacking attempts. According to the official, around 68 lakh such attempts were recorded on the counting day of the Assembly elections held earlier this year.
Meanwhile, on the issue of ‘young new voters’ the ECI said, as per the amendment in Section 14 of RP Act 1950 in 2021 read with Section 19 of RP Act 1950, “any person whose name in not on the electoral rolls or attains 18 years of age on 1 Jan, 1 April, 1 July or 1 Oct can register as a voter without waiting for any kind of revision as a part of regular updation of electoral rolls”.
“Both Special Summary Revision (SSR) and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) are done under Section 21(3) of RP Act 1950 and are optional and there is no legal requirement to hold both together,” the ECI said.