vajiraoias

Supreme Court Clarification on Approval of Modified Form 6 | SIR Electoral Roll Row Explained | UPSC 2026 Current Affairs Big Breaking: Supreme Court says - We Did Not Approve Modified Form 6! On 5th October 2026, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant led bench made a strong clarification - "Any modified Form 6 has not been approved by us. Let's be clear. When the record is produced, we would like to see who has modified it." This directly contradicts Election Commission of India (ECI) press note of 26 Sept 2026 which claimed "The declaration attached to Form 6 for SIR has been upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court." What is Form 6? Form 6 is the statutory application under Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 used by citizens for inclusion of name in electoral roll - especially first-time voters (18+). It requires Name, DOB, Address, Citizenship declaration. What is Modified Form 6 Controversy? During Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls - aimed at removing dead, missing, ineligible voters - ECI added an EXTRA DECLARATION in online Form 6 on ECINet/ERONet portal. New declaration asks applicant to state whether they or their parents/grandparents were mapped in previous SIR / earlier electoral roll. Issues Raised: 1. Legality: Can ECI modify a statutory form without amending Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 by Central Govt? 2. Hurdle for voters: Reportedly applicants could not submit online form without answering declaration, even though not marked mandatory. Creates barrier for first-time voters whose families not in old rolls. 3. Internal Dissent: Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi reportedly objected to incorporating declaration without Rule amendment. 4. Judicial Reference: ECI cited SC's 27 May 2026 Bihar SIR judgement to justify, but that judgement was about power to ask additional documents - additional declaration in question was introduced AFTER that judgement. Current Case: Bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi & V Mohana hearing plea by Advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi seeking action against CEC Gyanesh Kumar for 14 decisions allegedly taken unilaterally. Petitioner seeks SIT probe headed by retired SC judge + prosecution under Sec 32 of RP Act 1950 against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Sr Dy EC Maneesh Garg, DG (IT) Seema Khanna. SC issued notice to ECI, Centre, CEC - No interim order yet. Also political row - Rahul Gandhi accused CEC of changing Form 6 illegally to help BJP - ECI called it misleading. UPSC Relevance: GS2: Polity - Election Commission, Electoral Reforms, Representation of People Act 1950, 1951, Registration of Electors Rules 1960, Supreme Court vs ECI, Institutional Autonomy, SIR Vajirao & Reddy Institute - India's Top Potential Training Institute for IAS brings you Daily Current Affairs from The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB for UPSC 2026. Subscribe & Share for Daily Current Affairs Analysis! #SupremeCourt #Form6 #ModifiedForm6 #ECI #ElectionCommission #SIR #SpecialIntensiveRevision #CJISuryaKant #ElectoralRoll #VoterRegistration #GyaneshKumar #IndianPolity #UPSC2026 #UPSC #GS2Polity #CurrentAffairs #TheHindu #IndianExpress #BarAndBench #RepresentationOfPeopleAct #VajiraoAndReddyInstitute #ElectionCommissioners #SupremeCourtNews