Parties term extension of SIR schedule insufficient

While the Election Commission of India (EC) extended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) program of electoral rolls in Kerala by a week, political parties in the state stated that this was insufficient and demanded a further extension.

At the weekly review meeting held by Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar, representatives of major political parties criticized the EC for “creating a situation” in which the Supreme Court would have to intervene to adopt a stance in favor of Kerala.

While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded more time to complete the SIR in the meeting on Saturday, the Communist Party of India demanded that the counting phase be extended until the end of December and the Kerala Congress demanded an extension until January 31, 2026.

Former Minister M. Vijayakumar of CPI(M) observed that Kerala’s fight for expansion of SIR was noticed nationally. However, the last one-week extension given by the EC was insufficient. He called on the EC to decide on a further extension.

MK Rahman of the Congress said that on an average, 120 to 150 names appear in the ‘absent, missing, dead’ (ASD) list in each polling booth. This could lead to thousands of people being removed from the final lists. He said that the additional time announced by the EC on Friday was insufficient.

CPI’s Sathyan Mokeri criticized the EC for “creating a situation” in which the Supreme Court would have to intervene. He demanded that the enumeration phase be extended until December 31. “Why create a scare in the people that they would lose their citizenship,” he said, adding that the EC would be responsible even if a single eligible voter were to be excluded from the rolls.

Muhammad Shah, State Secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League, urged Mr Kelkar to urgently convene a meeting with organizations representing overseas Malayalis, as NORKA had not carried out. He also stated that the time given in the SIR calendar for filing and resolving claims and objections was insufficient.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused other political parties of creating unnecessary fear about SIR. Representing the BJP, JR Padmakumar urged the election authorities to ensure that no person is removed from the list without a proper hearing.

Mathew George of Kerala Congress, K. Jayakumar of RSP and K. Anandakumar of Kerala Congress (M) also spoke.