PTI photo.
New Delhi: The number of voters in Kerala has been revised to 2,69,53,644 following a three-month Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI), with the figure expected to rise by at least one lakh when the final electoral roll is published on February 21.
Announcing the updated figures at a meeting with political parties in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Kerala Rathan U Kelkar said the current total reflects substantial corrections made since the draft roll was released in December.
The revised total marks a decrease of 8,97,211 voters compared to the October 2025 electoral roll, which had 2,78,50,855 voters and served as the base for the SIR exercise. However, the downsizing is significantly lower than indicated in the Draft SIR list published on December 23, which showed a steep drop to 2,54,42,352 voters — a provisional deletion of over 24 lakh names.
The voters’ list used by the Kerala State Election Commission for the recent local body polls stood at 2,86,24,558. Compared to that figure, the updated SIR list is lower by 16,79,914 voters.
Of the 2.54 crore names in the draft roll, 36.89 lakh were placed in a ‘grey area’ due to address mismatches or discrepancies such as spelling errors. The ECI issued notices to all concerned voters. Over 98 per cent of these cases were resolved in favour of inclusion, with only 53,229 names ultimately deleted. Those removed included deceased individuals, people who acquired foreign citizenship, those who permanently relocated, and duplicate entries.
Fresh enrolments also contributed to the revised list. Of 14,57,468 Form 6 applications, 92.7 per cent were accepted, while 71.54 per cent of 2,22,417 overseas Form 6A applications were approved. Additionally, nearly all of the 24,32,139 Form 7 deletion requests were accepted.
With more than four lakh additional applications received between January 31 and February 16, officials said the final electorate is likely to exceed 2.70 crore.