Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has questioned the Election Commission of India (ECI) over changes made to the online Form 6, the application used for inclusion of names in electoral rolls.

On October 1, Gandhi asked who within the Election Commission had instructed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to make the change and who at the company had approved it. He also questioned whether TCS had been pressured to implement the alteration.

The controversy centres on an additional declaration linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) that was added to the online version of Form 6 through the ECINET system. The declaration sought information connecting a new applicant, or their parents or grandparents, with electoral rolls from an earlier SIR exercise.

The issue gained further attention after Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi reportedly raised objections to the change. According to reports, they questioned whether the statutory Form 6 could be altered without following the prescribed legal procedure.

The Election Commission has given a different explanation. It has said that the original statutory Form 6 was not amended, and that a separate SIR-related declaration, or Annexure-D, had been attached to the application during the revision process. The Commission has also removed the additional declaration in states where the SIR exercise has been completed, while it remains applicable in states where the process is ongoing.

Rahul Gandhi's questions are part of a wider political dispute over the SIR process and electoral rolls. The Congress and other opposition parties have raised concerns about the transparency of voter-list revisions, while the Election Commission has maintained that its procedures have legal backing and follow the applicable rules.

The Form 6 controversy therefore raises questions about how changes to digital voter-registration systems are authorised, implemented and reviewed. Further clarification from the Election Commission and other parties involved could determine how the dispute develops.