Kerala SIR: deadline extension brings some relief, but more time needed, say political parties

Political parties in Kerala greeted the Election Commission of India’s (EC) decision to extend the deadlines for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls with mixed reactions on Sunday.

Even as they welcomed the extension, they maintained that the time frame was insufficient and that the EC should consider providing more time.

All major political parties in the State, with the exception of the BJP, had repeatedly demanded that the exercise be halted until the local body elections scheduled for December 9 and 11 were over.

M.V. Jayarajan, one of the senior leaders who have been representing the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] at the weekly review meetings on SIR chaired by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) (Kerala), described the EC decision as “belated wisdom.” “Even though it is for a short time, the extension brings some relief and would prevent further suicides of booth-level officers (BLO),” he said. However, the extension does not really address Kerala’s problems as the deadline of the enumeration phase, now revised from December 4 to December 11, still overlaps with the local body polls, Mr. Jayarajan said.

Political parties in Kerala, including the CPI(M) and the Congress, had strongly opposed the Kerala SIR terming it a BJP tool to further its political agenda and implement the National Register of Citizens. The Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution expressing reservations about the exercise in September this year. In early November, an all-party meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here had decided to legally challenge the decision to conduct the SIR in Kerala.

Over the past several weeks, political parties have been strongly urging the EC to put off the SIR until after the local body polls. Reiterating the demand at the latest weekly review meeting held on Saturday, political parties had pointed out that many voters were yet to receive the enumeration forms.

M.K. Rahman, senior Congress leader who has been representing his party at the weekly SIR reviews here, said the extension was insufficient, but would nevertheless help to include some more voters on the rolls. “Our original demand was that the SIR should be put on hold. When that demand was not met, we sought an extension of at least two months. The current extension would help to include more voters, but it is not sufficient and at least two more months should be given,” Mr. Rahman said.

Mr. Jayarajan also echoed the demand, saying that the EC does a rethink and provide more time for the distribution and collection of the filled-up enumeration forms.

Meanwhile, CEO (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar said in a Sunday evening update that the number of digitised enumeration forms has touched 2.3 crore. Forms are being distributed to a little over 2.78 crore voters in Kerala under SIR.