Rahul Gandhi asks who authorised Form 6 changes, whether TCS was pressured

NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has questioned who authorised changes to the online Form 6 for voter registration and whether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was pressured to implement them.“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 Rahul said in a post on X.The Election Commission has withdrawn the additional Special Intensive Revision (SIR)-related declaration attached to Form 6 in states where the electoral roll revision exercise has been completed, PTI reported on Wednesday.The declaration has been removed from the ECINET app and portal, as well as the respective Chief Electoral Officer portals, meaning new applicants in these states will only have to submit the regular statutory Form 6 for voter enrolment.In states and Union territories where the SIR exercise is still underway, the additional declaration remains available on the ECINET portal. Under the declaration, new applicants are required to provide details linking themselves, their parents or grandparents to electoral rolls prepared during an earlier SIR.

The move follows a September 26 meeting of the full Commission, comprising Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. After the meeting, the poll panel said the declaration attached to Form 6 was meant “specifically for SIR” and that “for non-SIR period, the Forms applicable as per Rules (the Registration of Electors Rules 1960) will be used.”