Dr. S.Y. Quraishi, the former Chief Election Commissioner, declared on Friday that the use of Form 6 to restore names removed during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) constitutes a criminal offense. He argued that the form is strictly for first-time voters, meaning anyone who filled it out for a deleted entry has committed a crime punishable by one year in prison. "All those who have been forced to fill it have committed a criminal offense," Quraishi said, adding that the Election Commission officials who mandated the process are abettors to the crime.
The controversy strikes at the heart of the SIR exercise, where Forms 6 and 7 have become flashpoints. Form 6 seeks inclusion in the electoral roll; Form 7 handles objections or deletions. Quraishi maintains that applying Form 6 to a voter already on the roll—even if deleted—violates the legal framework. The former chief’s comments, reported by The Telegraph, land amid a brewing political storm over internal dissent within the Commission.
A recent media report alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar ignored objections from Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi regarding modifications to Form 6. The report claimed the two commissioners raised objections to the decision-making process 14 times in recent months. This internal friction has now been externalized by Quraishi’s legal accusations, turning a procedural debate into a potential criminal indictment of the current poll body.
ECI officials swiftly pushed back, stating that Form 6 is valid for filing applications for new voters and that the Commission’s decisions on the pan-India SIR were unanimous. They dismissed the notion of internal conflict, asserting that differing views are a normal part of institutional deliberations but that the final orders reflect the unanimous decision of the full Commission. The poll body maintains that no voter was "forced" into illegality, and that the process followed established legal guidelines.
The legal implications of Quraishi’s claim are significant. If the courts agree that Form 6 cannot be used for restored entries, the integrity of the SIR exercise could face a major legal challenge. The ECI is expected to issue a formal legal opinion on the matter in the coming days, while political parties are likely to push for a parliamentary clarification on the validity of the forms used during the revision.