Political parties on Saturday criticized the Election Commission of India for ignoring its repeated demands to stop the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls until local body elections are over in Kerala.
In a weekly review meeting presided over by Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar, they questioned the rationale behind pressuring booth level officers (BLOs) to meet timely deadlines when the actual deadline prescribed by the ECI for the enumeration phase was December 4. They also pointed out the problems faced by under-trained Booth Level Officers (BLOs), especially in the filling of SIR forms by third party voters. section to be filled by voters whose names do not appear in the 2002 SIR list.
Former minister M. Vijayakumar, representing the Communist Party of India (Marxist), accused the ECI of imposing SIR on people without any humanitarian interest. He brought the death of Payyannur BLO Aneesh George to the attention of the meeting and said that at least five BLOs collapsed during their work and since then there have been reactions of hundreds of BLOs.
Mr. Vijayakumar also alleged that the requirement that forms in their own language be issued to linguistic minorities in the state was not met.
Congress MP Rahman reiterated the demand that the SIR be delayed by at least a month. “There is time till December 4 to enumerate and collect the forms. But the BLOs are under a lot of pressure to complete the process early,” he said. This has also created fear in people that they may be left out of the SIR process, he added. Many BLOs are also poorly trained, Mr. Rahman said.
Mohammed Shah, state secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), said the undue haste shown by the ECI in enforcing the SIR raises suspicions that it wants to convey to the Supreme Court the impression that the exercise is going smoothly. BLOs are under a lot of pressure and face problems arising from inadequate training, he said. Mr. Shah also pointed out that overseas voters face a difficult situation when it comes to SIR. He urged Mr. Kelkar to urgently convene a meeting to allay their concerns.
The Communist Party of India (CPI), Kerala Congress, Kerala Congress (M) and Revolutionary Socialist Party also shared their concerns about the SIR.
JR Padmakumar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the opposition to the SIR was politically motivated. He alleged that there were attempts to disrupt the SIR using service organizations. B. Gopalakrishnan urged the ECI to ensure protection for BLOs who visit ‘party villages’.
Published – 22 Nov 2025 19:55 IST
