The Supreme Court made clear on Monday that its position on the Election Commission of India's updated Form 6 — the document through which first-time voter applicants seek registration — remains one of neither endorsement nor dismissal. A three-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and joined by Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana received the clarification at the hearing.

A public interest litigation lodged by Priya Mishra and one other petitioner, naming the Union of India — represented through the Chief Election Commissioner — along with additional respondents, was before the bench for consideration.

During the Supreme Court proceedings on Bihar's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the justices noted that the revised version of Form 6 had not yet come into existence at the time the matter was taken up. The bench made clear that its prior remarks concerning the amended form were not to be read as either approving or disapproving the changes introduced by the Election Commission. Questions about how the revised form had been applied during electoral roll revision across various states prompted the statement.

At an October 5 hearing, the bench had made plain that the revised Form 6 had not been sanctioned by the court. The panel indicated it intended to pursue questions about who had altered the form. Judgements handed down in that case have entered the active dispute over the amended voter registration form and what standing the Election Commission assigns to it.

Lawyers for the petitioners told the court on Monday that the Election Commission had presented the revised Form 6 as carrying the Supreme Court's endorsement. That argument was built on the bench's remarks from October 5. The panel, nonetheless, made clear that its prior remarks had been confined to a narrow point — namely, that the revised form did not exist at the time the Bihar Special Intensive Revision matter came before it for consideration. In making that observation, the court clarified that no stance — neither endorsement nor rejection — was being taken on the revised form.

Voters registering on the electoral rolls for the very first time are required to submit Form 6. The document has taken on fresh relevance in the context of the Election Commission's ongoing Special Intensive Revision drive, a process designed to examine and refresh voter rolls.

In drawing a line between its prior remarks and any binding ruling, the court indicated that what was said during proceedings about the Election Commission's revised form does not carry the weight of a formal judicial determination.