The Chief Justice of India (CJI) clarified during a hearing that no changes to the Election Commission’s Form 6 have been approved by the Supreme Court. The CJI also issued notices to several parties in relation to petitions seeking the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
During a court hearing on Monday, Chief Justice Surya Kant verbally observed that no changes to the Election Commission’s Form 6 have been approved by the Supreme Court. This statement was made while hearing petitions seeking the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for allegedly taking unilateral decisions regarding the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. The Election Commission had earlier claimed that a declaration attached to Form 6 for the voter roll revision exercise had been upheld by the Supreme Court. However, during the hearing on Monday, Chief Justice Kant clarified that any modified Form 6 has not been approved by the court. He also stated that when the record is produced, he would like to see who modified the form. It was reported that the Election Commission had made changes to the Form 6, asking applicants to state whether they or their parents or grandparents were part of the last special intensive revision of electoral rolls. The new declaration is not marked as mandatory but cannot be bypassed in the online submission process. Two election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had objected to this change, stating that it could not be made without amending the rules. Section 28 of the 1950 Representation of the People Act says that only the Union government can amend the rules governing electoral forms, including Form 6. The bench of Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana refused to issue an interim order on the pleas to suspend Kumar for allegedly failing to consider objections of the two other election commissioners. Notices were issued instead to Kumar, the poll panel, the Union government, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had accused Kumar of illegally and unilaterally modifying Form 6. The petitions were filed after reports that Sandhu and Joshi had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to decisions by the poll panel related to the special intensive revision.
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