The State government will open help desks in village offices to help eligible people who are not included due to various reasons in the draft electoral roll published by the Election Commission of India (EC) on Tuesday under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Over 24 lakh voters in Kerala have been excluded from the draft electoral roll published by the EC.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that it is important in a democratic system to ensure that not a single eligible voter is excluded from the voter’s list. If there is no facility at the village office, facilities will be provided at the nearby government offices. Two officials will be assigned on temporary work arrangements to provide necessary assistance to the public at the help desks, he said.
The State Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday assigned the respective District Collectors to prepare the facilities for this. The necessary assistance will be provided in the highlands, coastal areas and other backward areas to identify the deserving voters who have been left out. For this, the services of Anganwadi workers, ASHAs and Kudumbashree workers will be utilised as per the request of the village officers. It will be ensured that those who have completed 18 years of age and are studying in various institutions are also included in the voter list. For this, awareness campaigns will be organised in the respective institutions.
Further hearing
“In addition to the 24,08,503 people excluded from the draft list, 19,32,000 people included in the draft list will have to appear for a hearing again with documents to confirm their voting rights. This is because there is currently a requirement for people between the ages of 18 and 40 to link their kinship with those included in the 2002 electoral roll. These 19 lakh people have to go through this process again to establish their voting rights. There is a high possibility that those who were not included in the electoral roll in 2002 for some reason will now be excluded. There is also a situation where many people who were included in the electoral roll before and after that are being excluded from the SIR,” he said.
The number of exclusions in some booths have been unbelievably high, he said, citing the case of polling station 138 at Sreevaraham in Thiruvananthapuram, in which information of 704 out of the total 1,224 voters is shown to be unavailable.
“Despite the government’s repeated requests, stating that it is not necessary to conduct SIR in the States on the eve of elections, the Election Commission is rushing ahead with the most intensive inspection in a hurry, which is not to protect the best interests of democracy,” he said.
Published – December 24, 2025 09:04 pm IST
