Provide documents on war footing to eligible voters: Kerala CM to district collectors

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan directs district collectors to assist excluded voters in obtaining documents for the SIR draft list, ensuring accessibility and support.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has instructed all district collectors to take steps to provide the required documents on a war footing to eligible voters who find themselves excluded from the special intensive revision (SIR) draft list.

A previous cabinet meeting had decided to set up help desks at the local level for voters who want to add their names to the voter list. (PTI)

The voters will be assisted with accessing their essential documents at no additional charge. A previous cabinet meeting had decided to set up help desks at the local level for voters who want to add their names to the voter list.

“District collectors have been tasked with setting up hearing centres with necessary infrastructure at all required locations in a manner that does not cause inconvenience to the general public. The services of volunteers and adequate hearing officers will be ensured at all centres. There will be facilities at all centres to help eligible voters submit forms online,” a statement from the chief minister’s office said.

On Tuesday, SIR hearings began at polling booths across the state, with over 130,000 people issued notices so far due to discrepancies with respect to their documents. A total of 1.8 million notices have been prepared by the electoral registration officers (ERO) so far which will be issued in the next few days.

The SIR draft list was published in Kerala on December 23. Of the 27.8 million voters who were issued forms during the enumeration phase, 2.4 million have been excluded from the draft list. Another 1.9 million voters in the draft list are “in limbo” meaning they could not be linked to the 2002 electoral roll. The total number of voters during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Kerala stood at 27.7 million.

Vijayan instructed all district collectors to appoint BLOs in polling stations where they are absent within two days. Officials retiring as ERO, AERO and additional AERO must be replaced by new appointees soon, he said.

The statement from the chief minister’s office also said that if there is a delay in voters procuring documents through the K-SMART portal, the same can be accessed directly through grama panchayats.

“The government’s policy is to ensure voting rights for all eligible people. This is why the State has consistently demanded that the SIR process be inclusive of all voters,” it said.