“No voter to be left behind”

5.16 AFFIDAVIT IN FORM 26 TO BE SUBMITTED BY CANDIDATES

5.16.1 Along with the nomination paper, every candidate is required to file an affidavit
in Form 26, declaring information about criminal cases, assets, liabilities and
educational qualifications. Form 26 has been amended vide 3/4/2019/SDR/Vol.
I dated 28.02.2019 The Affidavit in Form 26 should be sworn before a Magistrate of
the First Class or before a Notary Public or a Commissioner of Oaths appointed by the
High Court of the State concerned. Each page of the Affidavit should be signed by the
deponent concerned or the affidavit should bear on each page the stamp of the Notary/
Oath Commissioner /Magistrate before whom the Affidavit is sworn. The duly sworn
affidavits should be on stamp paper of such denomination as prescribed under the state
law of the state concerned. It would be for the Returning Officer to decide the validity of
the affidavit in Form 26.
5.16.2 The optional facility of e-filing of affidavits (Form 26) can be availed by the candidates
by entering the information on logging into the ECI website. In such case, the printed
copy has to be taken on stamp paper of appropriate denomination and sworn before an
Oath Commissioner or Magistrate of the First Class or before a Notary Public for filing
the same before the Returning Officer. It may be noted that the notarized affidavit has to
be filed latest by 3.00 PM on the last date of filing nomination. This facility of e-filing is
available in two languages namely English & Hindi. (ECI No. 3/ER/2014/SDR Vol-I dated
19.3.2014)In case the two affidavits, one available in electronic format and other filed
with the Returning Officer after due notarization, are found to be different from each
other, then the notarized version of the affidavit should be scanned and uploaded on the
website. (ECI No. 3/ER/2014/SDR-Vol. I dated 17.4.2014)
5.16.3 If any candidate fails to file the said affidavit along with his nomination paper, Returning
Officer should bring to his notice this requirement through the check list handed over to
the candidates or proposers. The candidate should be asked to file duly sworn affidavit
latest by 3.00 p.m. on the last date of filing nominations.
5.16.4 No column of the affidavit should be left blank or filled by just tick/dash marking. The
Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that in the affidavits filed by candidates along with
their nomination paper, the candidates are required to fill up all columns therein and no
column can be left blank. Therefore, at the time of filing of affidavit, Returning Officer has
to check whether all columns of the affidavit filed with the nomination paper are filled up.
If not, the Returning Officer shall give a notice to the candidate to submit a fresh affidavit
complete in all respect. The Hon’ble Court has held that if there is no information to be
furnished against any item, appropriate remarks such as ‘NIL’ or ‘Not Applicable’ or ‘Not
Known’ as may be applicable shall be indicated in such column. They should not leave any
column blank. If a candidate fails to fill the blanks even after reminder, the nomination
paper will be liable to be rejected by the Returning Officer at the time of scrutiny of
nomination papers. (ECI No. 576/3/2013/SDR dated 30.9.2013 and 576/3/2017-SDR
dated 26.07.2017)

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