Kerala’s plea for postponement of SIR rejected

In including Kerala in the upcoming phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has not accepted a recommendation by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO Kerala) that it be put off until after the 2025 local body elections.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who fielded questions on the issue on Monday while announcing the SIR schedule at a press conference in New Delhi, pointed out that the notification for the local body elections in Kerala had not yet been issued.

CEO - Kerala Rathan U. Kelkar’s recommendation to the ECI, made in September, was based on suggestions by political parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress, that a postponement until after the local body elections was advisable. The recommendation was also based on a consideration that the simultaneous conduct of the two exercises would pose difficulties as there would be an overlap of government officials tasked with both duties.

As things stand, the 2025 local body elections to the three-tier panchayats, municipalities, and corporations are expected towards the end of November or early December. The State Election Commission, which is tasked with holding elections to local bodies, has published its final electoral rolls and is expected to announce the schedule soon.

State Election Commissioner A. Shajahan told The Hindu that the commission declared the schedule of the elections by taking into account the deadline by which the new administrative councils of local bodies were to assume charge. Which, in this case, was December 20, he said. Declaring the schedule was also the commission’s prerogative, he said.

Further, it is understood that the State Election Commission had conveyed a probable timeline of the local body elections in Kerala to the CEO Kerala’s office.

At a September 20 consultation held by Mr. Kelkar, political parties had expressed serious concern over the timing of the SIR and the decision to use the 2002 SIR electoral rolls as the base document for the forthcoming revision. They had also urged the ECI to include the ration card on the list of valid identification documents. These suggestions also had not been accepted.