Start Enrollment of ‘Omitted’ Kerala Voters on 15 October 2026

The latest campaign comes in the wake of the Election Commission of India’s decision last week to enroll missed, young and first-time eligible voters in 20 states and union territories where SIR has been completed. (Photo for representation)

Thousands of voters of Kerala, who were “left out” from the electoral roll after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, would get an opportunity to enroll themselves in the electoral roll from October 15, 2026.

A special drive to identify genuine voters who were left out of the roll began on the day with hundreds of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) running the campaign. The pre-SIR and post-SIR voter list would be compared to identify missed voters. The list of dead voters of the state would be generated from the database of local bodies maintained by the Kerala Information Mission.

Details of voters who have lost their citizenship and thus been excluded from the list would be generated from passport offices as they will have to surrender their Indian passport to get passports of the countries of their choice. There may be instances where voters move to other constituencies within or outside the state. Details of such voters would be verified from the Demographic Similar Entries Module of the ERO NET software, where details of duplicate or matching voter registrations are identified using artificial intelligence, D. Sajith Babu, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Keralam, told The Hindu.

8.97 million taken

Eligible voters thus omitted will be brought back as new voters. As many as 8.97 lakh voters were removed from the electoral rolls in the state after SIR. The final electoral roll released by the Election Commission of India (EC) after the SIR had a total of 2,69,53,644 voters as per the earlier data released by the commission.

The latest campaign comes in the wake of the EC’s decision last week to enroll missed, young and first-time eligible voters in 20 states and union territories where SIR has been completed. The SIR was finalized in Kerala before the assembly vote. A series of media revelations about the functioning of the EC and intense scrutiny of voter deletion in various states reportedly forced the agency to engage in special proceedings.

An online meeting of the District Collectors and concerned officials of Kerala will be convened on October 5, 2026 to discuss the modalities of the campaign.

Home visits

BLOs will conduct house calls across the state with a list of eligible voters and begin the process of enrolling them as new voters. Eligible voters will need to submit the required documents to be registered as new voters. The campaign in each region will be based on the respective village authorities, said Dr. Grandma.

In schools, universities

The CEO also announced plans to enroll new and eligible voters from school and university campuses from November 2, 2026, where youth studying in Plus Two classes and aged 17 and above will be enrolled. Under the programme, from campuses to polling booths, assistance services will also be set up in educational institutions with the help of Voter Literacy Clubs, Mr. Babu said.

Published – 04 Oct 2026 19:21 IST