New Delhi:
The online Form 6 – which is used for fresh voter registration – was changed “illegally”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Friday, asking who at the Election Commission ordered Tata Consultancy Services, or TCS, to make that change.
TCS, which is India’s biggest private-sector employer, handles the core digital backend infrastructure and portal management named ECINET for the poll body.
Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, asked whether TCS was pressured into doing this.
Form 6 is used for new voter registrations, during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and is also required for re-enlisting those whose names were deleted during the enumeration phase. A separate declaration was added to the physical form, regarding the mapping of voters, with the electoral rolls from the period of the previous SIR.
“The online Form 6 was changed illegally – as the EC’s own Commissioners have recorded. Who at the ECI ordered Tata Consultancy Services to make that change?” Gandhi posted on X this morning.
Read | Form 6 For New Voters: When A Small Change Triggered A Big Row
“Who at TCS signed off on it? And were they pressured into doing it? Who At Poll Body Ordered TCS To Make Changes To Form 6? he added.
The online Form 6 was changed illegally – as the EC’s own Commissioners have recorded.
Who at the ECI ordered Tata Consultancy Services to make that change?
Who at TCS signed off on it? And were they pressured into doing it?
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 1, 2026
His remarks came after an investigative report by The Indian Express revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to changes made to the online Form 6.
According to the report, an additional declaration relating to the previous SIR electoral roll was added to the online Form 6 on the ECINET portal. The declaration sought information on whether the applicant’s name, or that of their parent or grandparent, appeared in the electoral roll prepared during the previous SIR.
In their dissent, the two Election Commissioners had reportedly said that this was beyond the poll body’s mandate and only the Law Ministry was empowered to suggest or effect any changes. Both the Commissioners contended that the form prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, could not be modified without amending the rules.
The Election Commission, however, later clarified that no changes were made to the original statutory Form 6 and only a separate Annexure-D was attached to it during the SIR process.
Read | Poll Panel Drops Added Declaration From New Voter Form For Non-SIR States
This means that in states where the SIR process has been completed, prospective voters can now apply using the standard Form 6 and wouldn’t be required to submit the additional SIR-related declaration.
The poll body has decided to remove the additional declaration to Form 6 (voter enrolment form) from its ECINET application portal in those states where the SIR has concluded. The changes in the ECINET system came into effect on September 30.
The declaration, however, stays for those states where the SIR exercise is underway. The poll body portal also shows that the declaration form remains available for 13 states, where the voter revision exercise is underway.
Notably, the poll body in its September 26 statement also stated that the declaration accompanying Form 6 would now be used only during the period of SIR.
They said that Form 6 was never amended, and the declaration was merely added to it. It also stated that the power to add the declaration form was upheld by the Supreme Court in its judgment on May 27.
The Commission also maintained that the orders relating to SIR had the unanimous approval of all three Election Commissioners.
Earlier on Wednesday, INDIA bloc leaders held a coordination meeting in New Delhi and announced a series of protests against the poll body. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said Opposition parties would organise a nationwide “Save Democracy March” at the district level from October 2 to October 8.
Opposition MPs are also scheduled to march to the Election Commission on October 6, while INDIA bloc leaders are expected to meet President Droupadi Murmu in the second week of October to raise their concerns.
