Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar said on Saturday that the schedule announced by the Election Commission of India (EC) for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls will remain unchanged in the state.
At a weekly review meeting on SIR here, Mr. Kelkar was reacting to the demand of major political parties, including the CPI(M) and the Congress, that SIR be stopped till the end of local body elections. They also wanted to postpone the release date of the draft SIR list from December 9 as it coincides with the 1st phase of local body elections in the state. Political parties urged Mr. Kelkar to take up the matter with the EC as soon as possible.
The stand of the CPI(M).
Mr. Kelkar replied that the EC schedule would have to be followed, prompting CPI(M) leader MV Jayarajan, who was present, to say, “Then we will not cooperate.” Later, speaking to the media, Mr. Jayarajan claimed that the SIR was timed to upset the local body elections where the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front was poised for a big victory.
The political parties wanted the SIR to be postponed until after December 11 or 13, the respective dates of the second and final phases of local polls and vote counting. There has also been a demand that the house-to-house counting phase be extended from December 4 to December 30 in Kerala so that political parties can fully focus on SIR after the elections.
Mr. Jayarajan was highly critical of statistics released by the CEO’s office that nearly 85% of the enumeration forms were distributed in the state. “It is easy to distribute the forms. But it is humanly impossible to get them filled and returned within this deadline. How many forms have been returned to cabin level officers (BLOs) is a question. It is not easy to fill them,” said Mr. Jayarajan.
Congress agrees
Echoing the concerns, Congress MP Rahman said that BLOs are overburdened with work related to SIR and local polls. He asked Mr. Kelkar to look into reports that BLOs in some areas have been instructed to report 100% distribution of forms, even though they have not. Mr. Rahman also suggested that the CEO’s office should hold special events at the polling stations to ensure 100% counting.
BJP reaction
The BJP representative at the meeting, JR Padmakumar, called the objections against the SIR “politically motivated”. However, he added that if the exercise was indeed postponed until after the elections, his party would “seize the opportunity”.
The CPI, Kerala Congress (M), Kerala Congress and RSP also reiterated the demand that the SIR be delayed until after the elections. They pointed out that operational overlap with local opinion polls caused problems in the distribution and collection of census forms.
The parties also said that despite attending several meetings called by the CEO, the concerns they raised were not addressed. Sathyan Mokeri of the CPI, Stephen George of the CPI(M), K. Jayakumar of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Joy Abraham of the Kerala Congress were present.
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Published – 15 Nov 2025 18:53 IST
