SC to hear Kerala’s plea to defer SIR on Nov 21

The state has approached the court seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to defer the SIR, scheduled from November 4 to December 4

The Supreme Court is expected to hear on November 21 the Kerala government’s petition seeking postponement of the special intensive revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral rolls. The matter was mentioned on Tuesday before Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai, who indicated that the case would be taken up on Friday.

Kerala said undertaking both processes at once would be a “near-impossibility,” highlighting the scale of manpower required. (HT Archive photo)

The state has approached the court seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to defer the SIR, scheduled from November 4 to December 4, arguing that the “cumbersome” revision process overlaps directly with the upcoming local body elections in Kerala. Such simultaneous exercises, it contended, would stretch administrative capacity to breaking point and risk creating an “administrative impasse.”

Kerala said undertaking both processes at once would be a “near-impossibility,” highlighting the scale of manpower required. “The SIR is a huge exercise requiring deployment of 1,76,000 personnel from government and quasi-governmental services for election-related duties and further 68,000 police and other security personnel. The SIR is also a comprehensive process with cumbersome procedure, requiring the services of additional personnel numbering 25,668. The pool of trained and election-experienced staff is finite… Parting with such a large number of officers for simultaneous SIR and local body elections is a near impossibility, apart from possibly putting the State to an administrative impasse,” the petition submitted.

While the state noted that it continues to question the very constitutionality of the SIR and believes the exercise is “not conducive to the democratic polity of the country,” it clarified that the present plea focuses solely on the timing of the revision. Represented by advocate CK Sasi, Kerala argued that the SIR, if allowed to continue, would imperil the smooth conduct of the local body polls.

Kerala has 1,200 local self-government institutions (LSGIs), comprising 941 grama panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 87 municipalities, and six corporations, covering a total of 23,612 wards. The petition emphasised the constitutional and statutory mandates under Articles 243-E and 243-U, the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, and the Kerala Municipality Act, requiring that elections to these bodies be completed before December 21, 2025.

The Kerala State Election Commission has scheduled polling for December 9 and 11. Elections in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, and Ernakulam will take place on December 9, while Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod will vote on December 11. The notification was issued on November 14, the last date for withdrawal of nominations is November 24, counting will be held on December 13, and the process must be completed by December 18.

The state further argued that the chief electoral officer of Kerala has already conveyed that staff deployed for the LSGI elections cannot be diverted for the SIR. For the polls, it added, a massive workforce is necessary -- returning officers, assistant returning officers, electoral registration officers and their staff, sectoral officers, officers conducting first-level checking of EVMs, training personnel, presiding officers and polling officers.

“These personnel should not be appointed as Booth Level Officers (BLOs),” stressed the state, underscoring that the SIR would severely compromise the availability of trained officers needed to conduct the local body elections smoothly and in compliance with constitutional timelines.