- CJI Surya Kant clarified SC's stance on Form 6.
- Court neither approved nor disapproved Election Commission changes.
- Revised Form 6 absent during Bihar SIR hearing.
The Supreme Court on Monday clarified again that it neither approved nor disapproved the changes made by the Election Commission in Form 6. While hearing a fresh petition, the court said that the revised Form 6 did not exist when the Bihar SIR matter was heard.
Verbally reiterating what the Chief Justice of India (CJI) had said while hearing a separate plea seeking suspension of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Justice Joymalya Bagchi said that the court had not approved any alleged changes to Form 6.
Justice Bagchi's remarks came while hearing a petition regarding the functioning of the EC. Advocate Narendra Mishra has challenged CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s alleged unilateral decisions in the functioning of the poll body on behalf of petitioner Priya Mishra.
Responding to her, Justice Bagchi said, "What the CJI had said was that we had neither approved nor disapproved any such change to Form 6 in our judgement."
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CJI Surya Kant cautioned against selectively interpreting the top court's earlier observations. Meanwhile, Justice Bagchi further added that the revised Form 6 did not exist when the hearing on the Bihar SIR was held, and that the Court's observations cannot be construed as either approval or disapproval.
Notably, after a report by the Indian Express stated that the two Election Commissioners had called the changes in Form 6 illegal in a letter to the poll body, seeking following of set procedures, the Election Commission had clarified that the Form 6 was itself not amended but an annexure was added to it.
Besides, it claimed, the move was approved by the top court while it upheld the Bihar SIR. Days later, CJI Kant had said that no changes in Form 6 were approved by the apex court.