Guwahati: Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid hit the Election Commission on October 2 over changes to voter registration documents. He raised red flags in Guwahati regarding the handling of Forms 6, 7, and 8. The poll panel recently removed a Special Intensive Revision declaration from online Form 6 in states where that exercise wrapped up. Khurshid argued the changes lacked authentication.
Confusion remains about the status of applications submitted under the modified versions. The Election Commission maintains the statutory form stayed the same, insisting the extra declaration was only linked to the revision process. Khurshid pushed back on that claim. He noted, "Some people excluded on the modified Form 6 still don't know whether returning to the original Form 6 will give them a chance to have their applications looked at afresh."
The veteran politician wants to know if the commission will reconsider those previously blocked. He warned that the entire process faces scrutiny. Khurshid suggested that if the internal decision-making is flawed, the current approach should be scrapped entirely. Form 6 covers new name inclusions, Form 7 handles objections or deletions, and Form 8 manages updates to existing roll details.
Updated at 3rd October 2026 at 1:48am
Khurshid widened his attack on the Election Commission during the Guwahati briefing, claiming top-level decisions are being made unilaterally by the Chief Election Commissioner despite opposition from his colleagues. He noted this internal friction is already under review by the Supreme Court.
The former Union Minister slammed local authorities for alleged rights abuses, citing eviction drives in Goalpara, Golaghat, Sonapur, and the Rengma Reserve Forest. He accused the state of stripping displaced citizens of their voting rights, calling it a direct assault on the Constitution. Khurshid also pointed to state records showing nearly 3,700 deportations in two years, often conducted without formal notices or due process.
He didn't stop there, pointing fingers at the nomination of former District Commissioner Devashish Sharma as a BJP candidate. Khurshid blamed the former official for orchestrating the harassment and deportation of residents for political gain. On the pending National Register of Citizens, he warned that any move to tamper with the list would violate Supreme Court directives, leaving nearly two million people in legal limbo without rejection slips.
Updated at 3rd October 2026 at 9:52pm
Khurshid cited specific human costs regarding recent evictions, including the deaths of Haidar Ali and Zubair Ali during police firing at Kachutoli in September 2024. He stated these actions left roughly 2,000 people without a roof over their heads. Beyond property loss, he highlighted documented police violence, pointing to figures showing 171 encounters between May 2021 and August 2022 that caused 56 deaths, four custodial fatalities, and 145 injuries.
The legal standoff regarding the National Register of Citizens remains locked. An affidavit filed by the Registrar General of India confirmed that rejection slips for the 19 lakh people left off the register are stuck because the state NRC coordinator has not handed over the database. The government claims the delay stems from ongoing work to build a security system for the data. The Supreme Court has pushed the matter to November 6 while the Assam government works on its response.
Khurshid dismissed the Uniform Civil Code as a distraction, arguing any such change requires adherence to nine-judge Supreme Court rulings and respect for regional context. He also signaled a shift in tone regarding the opposition coalition, telling leaders they must focus on their own contributions to the alliance rather than demanding benefits.
Updated at 4th October 2026 at 1:47am
The Registrar General of India confirmed in an affidavit that the state NRC coordinator has yet to transfer the database to federal authorities. Officials claim the delay is due to the ongoing development of a security regime meant to safeguard the records. Until this data is handed over and formally notified by the Registrar General, the process for issuing rejection slips to the 19 lakh excluded applicants remains frozen.
The Supreme Court is now weighing petitions from the Assam State Jamiat Ulama, the All Assam Minority Students Union, and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind. These groups are demanding both the long-delayed rejection slips and the issuance of official NRC cards to the 3.11 crore citizens who were included in the 2019 final list.
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