VOTER REGISTRATION FORM ROW INTENSIFIES AS RAHUL GANDHI QUESTIONS WHO ORDERED ONLINE CHANGES

October 1, 2026 

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has questioned the Election Commission of India over changes made to the online Form 6 used for enrolling new voters, asking who authorised Tata Consultancy Services to implement the alteration and whether the company was pressured to do so.

Gandhi's questions follow reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to an additional declaration linked to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The declaration sought information about whether a new applicant, or their parents or grandparents, had appeared in an earlier electoral roll prepared during a previous SIR exercise.

The controversy centres on whether the additional declaration could be introduced alongside the statutory Form 6 without formally amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The objections recorded by the two commissioners reportedly questioned the legal procedure used for introducing the requirement.

The Election Commission has maintained that the original statutory Form 6 was not changed. According to the poll panel, the SIR-related requirement was introduced as a separate declaration accompanying the existing form and was intended specifically for the SIR exercise.

Following a full Commission meeting, the Election Commission removed the additional declaration from its ECINET portal in states and Union territories where the SIR process had been completed. The declaration continues to apply in areas where the revision exercise is still underway.

Gandhi has now sought clarity over the administrative chain behind the online implementation, specifically asking which officials instructed TCS to make the modification and who within the company approved it. His questions come amid a wider political dispute between opposition parties and the Election Commission over the conduct of the SIR and voter-roll revisions.

The Election Commission has said that differing views and observations among its members are part of institutional deliberations and has maintained that its orders follow established statutory procedures. The dispute over Form 6 remains part of the broader legal and political scrutiny surrounding the voter-roll revision process.