The Supreme Court will hear challenges to Delhi’s SIR and modified Form 6 on October 28, ahead of the October 30 claims deadline.
The plea questions the legal basis for requiring deleted voters to apply as new electors and make a first-time inclusion declaration.
Over 47 lakh electors were excluded from Delhi’s draft roll; the court has clarified it has not ruled on Form 6’s validity.
The Supreme Court will hear an application challenging the Election Commission of India’s decision to require voters whose names were deleted during Delhi’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to apply for inclusion as new voters on October 28. The court on Wednesday said it was considering passing an order as the deadline for filing claims and objections expires on October 30.
The matter was mentioned before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant by advocate Prashant Bhushan, who sought an early hearing. Bhushan said a petition challenging the Delhi SIR was already listed for October 30, by which time the claims-and-objections deadline would have expired.
“We are thinking of passing an order that will take care of the situation,” the CJI said, directing that all petitions challenging the Delhi SIR, along with the fresh application, be listed on October 28.
Deleted Voters Challenge Form 6
The application was filed by RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj. Bharadwaj and social activist Amrita Johri had approached the court on September 16, challenging the exclusion of more than 4.7 million voters from Delhi’s draft electoral roll published after the SIR exercise.
The plea challenges the ECI’s modified Form 6, arguing that it requires applicants to furnish legacy details linked to the 2002 electoral rolls without statutory backing. According to the petitioners, the requirement was introduced through an executive order rather than a statutory amendment.
The application also questions a declaration in Form 6 under which applicants must state that they are seeking inclusion in the electoral roll “for the first time”.
It argues that requiring voters whose names were previously on the electoral rolls to make such a declaration is inappropriate, as they may have already participated in earlier elections. The plea further warns that making a declaration that does not reflect their circumstances could expose applicants to penal consequences under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
Form 6 requires applicants to provide personal details, including their name, gender, date of birth, present ordinary residence, details of a relative and Aadhaar number, along with the prescribed declaration. The form also warns of penal consequences for making a false declaration.
Over 47 Lakh Electors Excluded From Draft Roll
During the enumeration phase of the SIR exercise in Delhi, 4,756,722 electors were excluded from the draft electoral roll. This accounted for 32.78 per cent of the electorate recorded before the revision began.
These electors were placed in the ASDD categories, covering those classified as absent, shifted, dead, duplicate or falling under other categories.
The claims-and-objections process is currently underway, with the deadline extended from September 30 to October 30.
The draft electoral roll contains around 9.7 million voters. Of these, approximately 3.3 million were categorised as having logical discrepancies or being unmapped. Around two million of those cases have been verified, according to the figures provided.
The approaching deadline has added urgency to the legal challenge, as voters seeking inclusion must complete the prescribed process while the validity of the disputed requirements remains under consideration.
Plea Questions Additional Declaration
The application identifies two alleged procedural anomalies in the ECI’s requirements. First, it argues that existing electors are being asked to use Form 6, a statutory form intended for first-time inclusion, and make a declaration that may not accurately reflect their status.
Second, it challenges the additional declaration introduced specifically for the SIR exercise, arguing that it is not part of the statutory Form 6 and was not introduced through the prescribed legal process.
According to the plea, these requirements impose conditions on existing electors that do not correspond to their circumstances and could expose them to legal consequences.
The application also refers to an ECI press note dated September 26, which it says added to the confusion by clarifying that the additional declaration was not required during the non-SIR period and that only forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would be used.
“An executive direction or order, in the absence of statutory authority, cannot impose an additional substantive condition, such as the requirement of a Declaration Form, for invoking a statutory mechanism, particularly where such condition bears upon an elector’s ability to seek inclusion in the electoral roll,” the plea said.
These are the petitioners’ arguments; the Supreme Court has not yet adjudicated the validity of the modified Form 6.
SC Clarifies Earlier Position
The court had addressed the Form 6 controversy earlier this week. On Monday, it clarified that it had not adjudicated the validity of the ECI’s modified Form 6.
The clarification came amid a dispute over the poll body's claim that the Supreme Court had upheld a declaration appended to Form 6 for the SIR exercise.
The court said its earlier observations should not be interpreted as either an endorsement or a rejection of the modified form. It agreed to examine the issue after it was brought to its notice.
The October 28 hearing will therefore take place against the backdrop of the court’s clarification and the approaching deadline for voters to submit claims and objections.
Form 7 Applications Also Under Scrutiny
Bharadwaj’s application also raises concerns about Form 7, which is used to object to the inclusion of names in electoral rolls.
Citing media reports, the plea said that more than 3,200 Form 7 applications were disposed of between August 31 and October 4, compared with 569 Form 6 applications during the same period.
Figures released by the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi on Tuesday showed that, between August 31 and October 12, the authorities received 220,645 Form 6 applications seeking inclusion in electoral rolls and 83,004 Form 8 applications for address changes or corrections.
During the same period, 9,243 Form 7 applications seeking deletion of names and 393 Form 6A applications were received. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the Delhi SIR challenges on October 28, two days before the October 30 deadline for filing claims and objections.
