Kerala’s push for extension of enumeration phase of SIR is ‘just, fair’; needs ‘deep consideration’ by ECI: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (December 2, 2025) found the concerted pleas of the Kerala government, political parties, and public representatives to extend the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State by at least a week beyond December 13 entirely “just and fair”, and worthy of “deep consideration” by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

A Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant directed Kerala to make a representation, if not already made, with the ECI, detailing its reasons for seeking an extension. The representation should be filed with the ECI by December 3. The court urged the ECI to consider the representation of the State “sympathetically and objectively” in the next two days.

The Bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, took into consideration the submissions by the State government and political parties that the local body elections, essential for grassroots democracy, should be allowed to be conducted without any hitch.

Kerala is on the cusp of elections to its 1,200 local self-government institutions made up of 941 gram panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 87 municipalities, and six corporations. There are a total of 23,612 wards heading for polls in the State.

The ECI had recently extended the deadline for completing the enumeration forms’ stage from December 4 to December 11 amidst reports of Booth-Level Officers, assigned to distribute the forms to electors on a house-to-house basis, wilting under the “overwhelming pressure” of work, with some even losing their lives.

The Kerala government, along with its regional parties, besides the ruling party of Tamil Nadu and leaders from West Bengal, has separately challenged the very Constitutionality of the SIR in the apex court.

But Kerala’s problem is more immediate. The State government said it was heading towards an “administrative impasse” with both the SIR and the local body elections happening simultaneously. The State was staring at a crisis with hardly any personnel left to do the day-to-day government functioning. The State urged the court to intervene with the ECI to defer the SIR for the time being.

Appearing for Kerala, advocate C.K. Sasi said polling for the local body elections are on December 9 and December 11. The counting of votes would be on December 13, and the last date for completion of election is scheduled on December 18.

The State said the local body elections would require deployment of 1,76,000 personnel from government and quasi-governmental services for election-related duties, and a further 68,000 police and other security personnel. It said the SIR also would need 25,668 persons from a pool of trained staff experienced with election-related work.

The ECI, represented by senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Maninder Singh, said the enumeration phase was going “smoothly”, with 98.8% forms distributed to electors, and over 84% filled ones received back and digitised till date. They submitted that the SIR was not impeding the civic elections.

The Kerala State Election Commission, represented by advocate Ramesh Babu, submitted that the staff deployed for SIR work were not being forced to double up as local body election officers. Mr. Babu maintained there was no shortage of staff for the SIR work in the State, and no more people were required.