The Kerala government has raised a major alarm with the Election Commission of India (ECI), warning that nearly 25 lakh voters in the state face the threat of losing their fundamental right to vote due to serious flaws in the ongoing revision of electoral rolls. In a strongly-worded letter, the state has urgently sought an extension of the deadline to rectify what it calls large-scale procedural failures.
Widespread Exclusion of Voters Sparks Concern
In a letter dispatched by the Chief Secretary to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday, the state administration detailed multiple critical lapses in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The government highlighted that voters across Kerala have been incorrectly marked under categories like "Absent/Untraceable," "Permanently Shifted," and "Enumeration Form Refused." Cumulatively, these classifications have put the voting rights of approximately 25 lakh electors in jeopardy.
Shockingly, the exclusions are not limited to ordinary citizens. The letter pointed out that even prominent permanent residents, including Thiruvalla MLA Mathew T Thomas and his family, former Ollur MLA Rajaji Mathew and his family, and former DGP Raman Srivastava and his family, have been wrongly omitted from the draft rolls. This, the state argues, underscores the systemic nature of the errors.
Procedural Flaws and Lack of Transparency
The government flagged a fundamental breakdown in the process, stating that enumeration forms were not distributed to all eligible voters by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Furthermore, the details of forms that could not be delivered have neither been published nor shared with political parties, making independent verification and correction nearly impossible.
Kerala currently has 2.78 crore voters following the 2025 Special Summary Revision (SSR). However, the state has demanded that the ECI immediately make public the booth-wise and assembly constituency-wise lists of excluded voters. This transparency is deemed essential for political parties and affected individuals to identify mistakes and file claims for inclusion.
Specific Discrepancies and an Urgent Call for Extension
The letter cited alarming anomalies at the booth level. It noted that many individuals who were listed in the 2021 assembly election rolls and had actually cast their votes are now missing. A glaring example was given: at polling station number 138 in Sreevaraham under the Thiruvananthapuram assembly constituency, a staggering 704 voters were listed as "untraceable." Given that a typical polling station has fewer than 1,200 voters, the government described this figure as highly abnormal and warned that similar discrepancies likely exist elsewhere.
Despite these unresolved issues, the ECI closed the updation of enumeration forms on December 19. The state has stressed that an error-free electoral roll is the bedrock of free and fair elections. Joining political parties and a plea in the Supreme Court, the Kerala government has urged the ECI to extend the deadline for submitting enumeration forms by at least two weeks. This extension is presented as the only way to address grievances and prevent the large-scale disenfranchisement of eligible citizens.
