Local body polls in Kerala will not be disturbed by SIR: State Election Commission to Supreme Court

The Kerala State Election Commission (SEC) has told the Supreme Court that the upcoming local body polls in the State will not be disturbed by special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being undertaken by the Election Commission of India (ECI)..In this regard, it also stated that officers deployed for the upcoming local body elections will not be diverted for SIR.The SEC filed its counter affidavit in response to Kerala’s petition seeking a postponement of the SIR on the ground that it clashes with the 2025 elections to the Local Self-Government Institutions (LSGIs). The State had argued that the SIR imposes an impossible administrative burden when over 1.76 lakh election personnel and 68,000 police officers are already mobilised for polls in December..The SEC, however, has flatly disagreed.According to its affidavit, Kerala’s local body elections are fully on track and that its polling personnel will not be diverted for SIR work under any circumstance. Asserting complete preparedness, the SEC said electoral rolls were revised multiple times in 2023, 2024 and again in August and October 2025, before being finally published on November 14. The election schedule was announced soon after, and the entire poll machinery - returning officers, assistant returning officers, presiding officers, polling staff, observers and counting teams - has already been deployed across 23,612 constituencies..According to the SEC, over 1.34 lakh polling staff have been appointed and trained, with an additional 27,000 in reserve. Sector officers, observers and counting personnel have also been positioned, and printing of ballot papers is underway in various government presses. Polling is fixed for December 9 and 11, counting for December 13, and the process will be completed by December 18. It stressed that all officers on election duty are on deemed deputation to the SEC until the declaration of results, meaning their services cannot be claimed by any other authority, including the ECI.The SEC added that there is no shortage of staff and that the Chief Secretary and the State Police Chief have already assured all administrative and law-and-order support. It maintained that SIR personnel must be provided only by the ECI and not from the election pool engaged in the December polls..Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India has filed its counter-affidavit in a separate case concerning the SIR in West Bengal, defending the national rollout of the special revision exercise. According to the ECI, a special intensive revision has not been conducted for more than twenty years and that large-scale migration, repeated entries, and complaints from political parties about irregularities in the rolls required a ground-up verification process beginning with pre-filled enumeration forms delivered to every existing elector..The ECI said that 99.77% of electors have already been provided pre-filled forms and over 70% have been received back, adding that claims of mass disenfranchisement were “highly exaggerated”. It also clarified that no document is required from existing electors during the enumeration phase and that documents are sought only later from those who cannot be linked to the 2002 SIR roll once notices are issued by the Electoral Registration Officer. The Commission noted that it has expanded its list of indicative documents from four to thirteen, which now include Aadhaar, voter ID, passport, ration card and birth certificate, and said these are readily available or easily obtainable with the assistance of Booth Level Officers.The ECI reiterated that the SIR is not aimed at determining citizenship but only at verifying eligibility for inclusion in the electoral roll under Articles 324 and 326 and Sections 16 and 19 of the 1950 Act. It told the Court that maintaining purity and accuracy of the rolls is integral to free and fair elections and that its exercise is constitutionally authorised and consistent with voter rights protections..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.