The main election officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar recommended the Indian Election Commission (EC) that the special intensive revision (Sir) of election roles in Kerala will only be postponed after the elections by 2025.
Mr. Kelkar’s recommendation, filed on Sunday, comes on the heels of political parties, including the Indian Communist Party (Marxist) and Congress, which requires the postponement of Sir at the meeting of recognized political parties held on Saturday.
Mr. Kelkar said that officials supervising Sir will also be returning officers for local physical surveys of public opinion. “So doing both exercises would be a difficult task,” he said on Monday. The CEO of the CEO calculates that general elections to local bodies in Kerala would end in the third week of December, after which Sir can start.
The State Election Commission, which is accused of local elections in the body, must only announce a schedule.
Although Kerala begins to prepare for the election elections of the State Assembly, probably in May 2026, as soon as surveys of the public opinion of the local authority, Mr. Kelkar said that Sir would take only three months to complete and have experience in Bihar. Mr. Kelkar issued his recommendation ECI when the notice of the SIR plan was expected in the next few days.
The CEO’s office started preparatory work for exercises in Kerala shortly after the start of Bihar Sir. Many meetings at the level of the districts convened by collectors were also organized in addition to the state level consultation, Mr. Kelkar, which took place with political parties.
The political parties expressed serious concern about the timing of Sir and the decision to use the election roles of 2002 as a basic document. Most of the recognized political parties attended by Saturday’s session said that the general sentiment was against Sir’s possession in Kerala. They also urged ECI to postpone the exercise only after the local elections to the authority and include a ration card on the list of valid identification documents.
The MV Jayarajan of the CPI (M) pointed out the massive outrage caused by Sir in Bihar and said that the “Bihar model” Sir will never be accepted in Kerala. PC Vishhnunad, Mla, said it would be “impractical” when Kerala was going to be in the thick local elections, to keep Sir.
Published – 22 September 2025 9:06
