Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Jan 15: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed that the names of individuals excluded from Kerala’s draft electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) must be made publicly accessible, both at local government offices and on the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) official website.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued the direction while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the ongoing revision of electoral rolls in the state.
During the proceedings, petitioners argued that nearly 24 lakh names had been removed from the draft rolls released by the ECI, but affected voters were unable to raise objections as no consolidated list of deleted names had been published. Counsel for the petitioners submitted that without such disclosure, individuals were being denied a meaningful opportunity to question their exclusion.
The court was also informed that several voters had allegedly been wrongly marked as deceased or shown as having shifted out of Kerala, despite continuing to reside in the state.
Taking note of these concerns, the apex court ordered that if not already done, the list of excluded voters must be displayed at gram panchayat offices or other public offices in villages and also uploaded on the ECI’s website to ensure transparency and public access.
The CJI-led Bench further observed that the Election Commission may consider extending the deadline for filing objections against deletions to allow affected voters sufficient time to respond.
In an earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had allowed petitioners seeking more time in the SIR process to submit representations to the ECI and directed the poll body to take a decision on them by December 31, 2025.
As per official data, Kerala had a total of 2,78,50,856 voters prior to the revision exercise. Forms have been received from 2,54,42,352 voters, amounting to a coverage of 91.35 per cent. The remaining 8.65 per cent — approximately 24.8 lakh voters — are yet to submit their forms. During the enumeration process, the ECI identified 6,49,885 voters as deceased and categorised 6,45,548 individuals as “untraceable.”
Based on the forms received, a booth-level draft electoral roll containing around 2.54 crore voters has now been prepared and published.