Political parties on Saturday slammed the Election Commission of India for ignoring the repeated demands made by them to halt the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls till the local body elections are over in Kerala.
At a weekly review meeting chaired by Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar, they questioned the rationale of pushing booth-level officers (BLO) to meet early deadlines when the actual deadline prescribed by the ECI for the enumeration phase was December 4. They also drew attention to problems faced by insufficiently trained booth-level officers (BLO) and the confusion experienced by voters in filling up the SIR enumeration form, especially the third section required to be filled up by voters whose names are not there in the 2002 SIR list.
Former Minister M. Vijayakumar, representing the Communist Party of India (Marxist), accused the ECI of imposing the SIR on the people without any humanitarian concern. Drawing the meeting’s attention to the death of Payyannur BLO Aneesh George, he said that at least five BLOs have collapsed during their work and the responses of hundreds of BLOs have emerged since then.
Mr. Vijayakumar also alleged that the demand that linguistic minorities in the State be issued the forms in their own language has not been met.
M.K. Rahman of the Congress reiterated the demand that the SIR be put off by at least a month. “There is time till December 4 for the enumeration and collection of the forms. But BLOs are under severe pressure to complete the process early,” he said. This has also generated fear in the people that they may be left out of the SIR process, he added. Many BLOs are also insufficiently trained, Mr. Rahman said.
Mohammed Shah, State secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), said the undue haste shown by the ECI in pushing forward with the SIR gives rise to the suspicion that it wants to convey to the Supreme Court the impression that the exercise is progressing smoothly. BLOs are under severe pressure and they face problems arising from insufficient training, he said. Mr. Shah also pointed out that overseas electors are facing a difficult situation with respect to the SIR. He urged Mr. Kelkar to urgently convene a meeting to allay their concerns.
The Communist Party of India (CPI), Kerala Congress, Kerala Congress (M), and the Revolutionary Socialist Party also shared their concerns over the SIR.
J.R. Padmakumar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that the opposition to the SIR was politically motivated. He alleged that attempts were on to disrupt the SIR by using service organisations. B. Gopalakrishnan urged the ECI to arrange protection for BLOs who visit ‘party villages.’
Published – November 22, 2025 07:55 pm IST
