Amid a row over changes made in Form 6, the Election Commission of India on Thursday clarified that the form was itself not amended but an additional declaration was sought along with it.

The officials said that the provision was mentioned during the SIR process in Bihar. The SIR order for Bihar, dated June 24, 2025, which had EC's unanimous approval, "had contained the provision for Form 6 along with Declaration Form".

While the SIR exercise itself is being conducted under section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

"Further, in case of application for registration as a new elector or for shifting from outside the state, it is also directed that henceforth, along with Form 6 or Form 8, an additional Declaration Form (Annexure D) shall also be required to be filled by the applicant to support the declaration made therein," it quoted from the previous order.

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The poll body also cited the Supreme Court's order in the ADR vs. ECI writ petition 640/2025 on May 27 this year, which upheld its power to add the declaration form.

"Any new voter was required to submit Form 6 along with a Declaration Form in Annexure D of the Impugned Order," the poll body quoted the apex court verdict.

Besides, the poll body said that the declaration form was introduced for the "ease of voters" so that whoever submits the declaration form "need not submit any other documents".

The poll body also rejected the centralisation claims about the online portal 'ECINet'. The ECI said that it remains a decentralised platform designed in accordance with the RP Act 1950.

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The EC's clarification came after a media report claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised "red flags" about the "gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database" after ERO highlighted problems in accessing the portal.

"As per law, BLOs, AEROs, EROs, DEOs and CEOs can perform their statutory functions on this platform with their Unique ID and Password. Nobody else can perform their statutory function on ECINet, including any other officer of ECI," sources said.