SC urges ECI to extend time for submitting forms for electoral rolls

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider granting additional time for the submission of enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Kerala, citing the ongoing local body elections.

 

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was informed that the ECI had already extended the original deadline from December 4 to December 11. With polling scheduled for December 9 and 11, and counting planned for December 13, the court observed that officials engaged in election duties must also have adequate time to complete the enumeration process.

 

“You extend it more so that anyone who missed out will also get an opportunity,” the Chief Justice told Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI.

 

The court recorded that the plea for further extension was "just and fair" and merited consideration by the election body. It permitted the Kerala government to make a formal representation outlining reasons for the extension and directed the ECI to decide by Thursday after examining the request "objectively and sympathetically".

 

The matter arose from petitions filed by the State of Kerala, the Indian Union Muslim League, KPCC president Sunny Joseph, CPI(M) state secretary Govindan Master, and others, seeking postponement of the SIR exercise in light of the local elections.

 

The State Election Commission (SEC) clarified that the revision process had not interfered with poll preparations, as personnel assigned to election duties had been exempted from SIR work.

 

Dwivedi informed the court that separate teams had been deployed for both exercises, that is, 1.76 lakh officials for the SEC and 25,468 for the SIR. He added that over 98.8 per cent of enumeration forms had been distributed and nearly 80 per cent had already been digitised. Senior Advocate Maninder Singh also represented the ECI.

 

Advocate Haris Beeran, appearing for IUML leader PK Kunhalikutty, highlighted Kerala’s unique challenge due to its large non-resident population. He said around 35 lakh Keralites living abroad, mostly in the Gulf region, struggle to complete registration since Booth Level Officers insist on in-person verification, which is impractical for many NRIs. The bench noted that this concern could also be included in the state’s representation to the Commission.

 

The state had earlier approached the Kerala High Court seeking to defer the revision process, but the High Court declined to intervene, observing that the Supreme Court was already hearing related matters.