Supreme Court seeks ECI response to plea by Kerala for deferring SIR until after local body elections

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a plea filed by the Kerala government seeking deferment of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ordered by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the State.

The State moved the Court seeking to postpone the SIR exercise at least till after the upcoming local body elections.

"We are saying this is co terminus with the local election," Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal said on behalf of Kerala.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and SVN Bhatti sought the response of the poll body and posted the case for consideration on November 26.

The Court also issued notice on petitions by Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Indian Union Muslim League leader PK Kunhalikutty. These petitions have challenged the SIR itself and not merely sought deferment of the process.

"Issue notice. All these petitions will be heard on November 26," the Court directed.

The State had earlier approached the High Court which had refused to interfere and instead asked the government to approach the Supreme Court since the latter is already seized of similar petitions concerning SIR in other States including Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

According to the plea filed by Kerala, the SIR, particularly the manner in which it is being undertaken, is not suited to the present election schedule in Kerala, given the upcoming Local Self-Government Institutions (LSGI) polls in December.

The Kerala government added that while it may challenge the SIR separately, the current plea is limited to postponing the exercise.

The petition highlighted that Kerala has 1,200 local bodies with 23,612 wards. The last elections were held in December 2020.

The State 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 plea also noted that 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.

These local body elections require 1.76 lakh personnel from the government and quasi-governmental services, apart from 68,000 police and other security personnel. The SIR would require additional personnel of about 25,668.

"This puts a severe strain on the State administration bringing routine administrative work to a standstill," the plea said

The State argued that the same trained staff cannot be deployed for both exercises and warns of an administrative impasse if the SIR is permitted to continue alongside the local body elections.

The petition further pointed out that 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.

These timelines directly clash with the local body election schedule, it was contended.

Further, 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.

It noted that Lok Sabha elections have already been held in 2024, that the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly began its sessions on May 24, 2021, and the next Assembly elections need only be completed before May 24, 2026.

As such, there is no emergent necessity to run the SIR alongside the local body polls, it was submitted,.

The petition was filed through advocate CK Sasi.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Kerala government.

Advocates Nikhil Narendra and Sriram Parakkat appeared for CPI.

The Supreme Court is already seized of petitions challenging SIR in Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

The ECI had first directed a Special Intensive Revision in June 2025 for Bihar. Multiple petitions, including those filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Federation for Indian Women (NFIW), are already pending before the Supreme Court challenging that order.

Despite those challenges being sub-judice, the ECI on October 27 2025 extended the SIR to other States and Union Territories, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala.

The SIR in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have been challenged before the Supreme Court which issued notice on those petitions on November 11.

The Bihar SIR was meanwhile completed since the Supreme Court did not stay the process. The SIR in all these States will be subject to the outcome of the petitions before the apex court.

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