Kerala Moves Supreme Court To Defer SIR Until After Local Body Polls, To Challenge The Exercise Separately
The Kerala government has moved the Supreme Court seeking the deferment of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state till after the upcoming local body elections.
The state government questioned the urgency of the electoral revision, stating that while it may challenge the SIR separately, the current plea is limited to postponing the exercise.
The SIR ordered by the Election Commission of India (ECI) has sparked fears of voters’ deletion across the country, drawing criticism from across the political spectrum.
The government, in its petition to postpone the SIR, stated that the exercise, particularly in the manner in which it is being undertaken, is not suited to the present election schedule in Kerala, given the upcoming local body polls scheduled in December.
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The State had cited Articles 243 E and 243U of the Constitution of India and the relevant provisions of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and the Kerala Municipality Act to underline that the entire local body election process has to be completed before December 21, 2025. The Kerala State Election Commission has fixed December 9 and December 11, 2025, as the dates on which polling will take place, with the vote count scheduled to begin on December 13. The entire election process is expected to conclude by December 18.
The petition pointed out that the local body elections require 1.76 lakh personnel from the government and quasi-governmental services, apart from 68,000 police and other security personnel while the SIR would require additional personnel of about 25,668. The plea highlighted that the situation puts a severe strain on the state administration bringing routine works to a standstill, adding that the same trained staff cannot be deployed for both exercises.
The state also warned of potential administrative impasse if the SIR is permitted to continue alongside the local body elections. It noted the deadline for enumeration for the SIR was set at December 4, that the details are expected to be submitted by December 9, with February 7, 2026, being the date set for the publication of the final revised electoral rolls.
The government thus argued that these timelines clash with the local body polls schedules, and hence sought to defer the exercise. It also contended that there is no urgency to complete SIR now and that the ECI has also not made out any special reasons for carrying out a special revision in the State.
Notably, there have been already reports of suicides by BLOs due to the work pressure including from Kerala.
