Jairam Ramesh Calls EC’s Form 6 Clarification “Word Games”

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday, 3 November, that the Election Commission’s latest clarification on Form 6 is “another set of word games that clarify nothing”, and demanded that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls be stopped. He made the remarks in a post on X, a day after the Commission wrote to all state chief electoral officers on the form, according to PTI and ETV Bharat.

Why Congress Rejects the Clarification

Form 6 carries a declaration asking whether the applicant is applying for inclusion for the first time. Ramesh said the Commission’s position, that a voter whose name is missing from the draft roll can still file Form 6 and be treated as a first-time applicant, is a deceptive word game. “No amount of damage control can fix this flawed process. SIR needs to be stopped,” he wrote.

He alleged that the SIR is “designed for exclusion”: voters are deleted first and then asked to re-apply as new voters. He also said the Commission offered protection from legal consequences only after voters had been asked to sign the declaration.

Also read SIR Software Name Withheld: EC Cites Trade Secrets in RTI Reply

What the Commission Told State Officers

In its letter, the Commission said some voters missing from the draft SIR roll were hesitating to file Form 6 because they feared prosecution under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. It said such voters can submit the form for fresh inclusion in the final list even if they were enrolled earlier, and that doing so “would not, by itself, constitute a false declaration”. IPB has reported the Commission’s letter and what it means for voters.

Two Objections Ramesh Cited

Ramesh pointed to a letter from Maharashtra’s chief electoral officer to the Commission, which he said argues that Form 6 cannot be used this way. He also cited a case in the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court, where the court has questioned the Commission’s reasoning for leaving out absent and shifted voters. Both are his references; the reports do not give the contents of either document.

The opposition has been campaigning against the SIR since the INDIA bloc’s Ramlila Maidan rally on 1 November. The Commission has not responded to Ramesh’s post in the reports seen so far, and each state runs its own SIR schedule for filing claims.

Source: Jairam Ramesh’s post on X. Also based on reporting by ThePrint (PTI) and ETV Bharat.

Image: IANS (file photo).