Supreme Court says new Form 6 was neither approved nor rejected

The Supreme Court on Monday said it has neither approved nor disapproved the new Form 6, and that the issue was not adjudicated when it heard the matter related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. Form 6 is the application through which an eligible person seeks inclusion in the electoral roll.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana made the observation while hearing a petition concerning the SIR. The bench said the plea would be heard along with similar pending petitions related to the SIR, which are scheduled for hearing on October 27.

During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner argued that the Election Commission had said Form 6 was approved by the apex court. He said the court had, on October 5, observed that it had not approved any modifications to Form 6, which is being used by the Election Commission during the SIR of electoral rolls in various states.

"There is no adjudication on the new Form 6. That is all we have said," Justice Bagchi observed, adding that when the matter related to the SIR in Bihar was heard, the issue of the new Form 6 was not before the court. "What the Chief Justice said was that when the Bihar SIR matter was heard by us, the new Form 6 was not there," Justice Bagchi said, adding that this did not mean it was either approved or disapproved by the top court.

While hearing a separate plea on October 5, the apex court had said it had not approved any modifications to Form 6. The Election Commission had issued a press release on September 26 suggesting that the apex court had upheld the Form 6 declaration in the May 2026 judgment related to the Bihar SIR.

The plea heard by the apex court on October 5 cited the provisions of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, particularly Section 18, which deals with decision-making by the Election Commission and says that where there is a difference of opinion, the view of the majority prevails. One of the main issues raised in the plea is the alteration of Form 6, which people use to register as voters. It has alleged that the requirement relating to ancestral details and a link with the previous SIR was introduced through the election panel's software without the statutory amendment required under the electoral rules.

In sum, the Supreme Court has clarified that it has not ruled on the new Form 6, and said the question of whether it stands approved or disapproved did not arise in the Bihar SIR case. The wider challenge to the form and the SIR process will now be taken up with related petitions on October 27.

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