Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Dr Rathan U Khelkar announced on Saturday that the draft electoral roll prepared after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process will be published on December 9 as scheduled. Addressing the media, the CEO clarified that there are no plans to extend the process in light of the upcoming local body elections.
"The voters’ list for the local body polls is different from the list being prepared under the SIR. The SIR process is being carried out with a focus on the 2026 Assembly elections. It will not affect the local body polls," he stated. He added that the SIR is progressing strictly according to the timeline set by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
He made the remarks in response to demands from political parties to postpone the SIR process.
"Booth-level officers and political parties actively participated in the process. Voters can collect the enumeration forms from their booths and can still shift their vote to another constituency if required," he added.
The LDF-led state government had approached the Kerala High Court seeking to defer the SIR until December 21st, citing the local body elections. However, a bench of Justice VG Arun refused to stay the process and advised the government to approach the Supreme Court instead.
"Judicial discipline and comity require this Court to refrain from entertaining the writ petition. For the aforementioned reasons, the writ petition is closed, leaving it open to the petitioner to move the Supreme Court or approach this Court depending on the outcome of the petitions pending before the SC," the High Court said while dismissing the plea.
As per the SIR schedule— enumeration by booth level officers must be completed by December 4, 2025, submission of details is scheduled for December 9 and the final publication of the electoral rolls will take place on February 7, 2026.
Also read: Congress releases first list for Kerala local body polls
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