Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday questioned the Election Commission of India over changes made to the online Form 6 used for fresh voter registration. He asked who within the poll panel instructed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to make the alteration and whether the company was pressured to implement it.
Gandhi alleged that the online version of Form 6 had been changed “illegally” and said Election Commission officials had themselves recorded objections to the alteration.
“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?” Gandhi said.
His remarks came amid a controversy surrounding an additional declaration linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that had been added to the online version of Form 6. The statutory form is used by new voters to apply for inclusion in electoral rolls.
According to reports, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to the alteration, maintaining that the statutory form could not be changed without following the prescribed legal process.
The additional declaration required applicants to provide information connecting themselves, their parents or grandparents to earlier electoral rolls. The issue was among at least 14 objections reportedly recorded by Sandhu and Joshi over decisions related to the electoral-roll revision process during the previous 10 months.
The Election Commission has since withdrawn the additional SIR-linked declaration from Form 6 in states and Union Territories where the revision exercise has been completed. The declaration has been removed from the ECINET application and portal as well as the respective Chief Electoral Officer websites in those areas.
The additional declaration remains available in areas where the SIR exercise is still underway. The Election Commission has maintained that the statutory Form 6 itself was not changed and that the additional declaration was linked to the SIR process.
The withdrawal has not brought an end to the political controversy. Gandhi's latest questions have shifted attention to the process through which the digital addition was implemented, including the respective roles of the Election Commission and TCS.
The Congress has alleged that the alteration was made without the authority required to amend a statutory form and has called for greater clarity on how the decision was taken.