Thiruvananthapuram: More than one lakh voters have been found missing during the intensive revision of the electoral roll in Kerala, according to the State Chief Electoral Officer. A total of 1,01,856 names will be removed from the list as their residences could not be verified, while some voters are reported to have died or been listed twice, the Election Commission said. However, the authorities have not published details of who these ‘missing’ voters are or in which constituencies they belong. Those eligible to remain on the roll but included in this group will have to reapply by submitting Form 6 to retain their names.
Thousands in the state are yet to receive the enumeration forms. Voters complain that despite informing Booth Level Officers (BLOs), they have not received a clear response. There is a growing demand from the public and political parties to release the booth and constituency-level data of those whose whereabouts could not be confirmed, to ensure that no eligible voter is wrongly excluded.
The Chief Electoral Officer said the figures will be published soon and then reviewed through BLO–BLA meetings. Until Friday evening, the details of 19,90,178 people had been digitised. A total of 45,249 voters have submitted forms online. A meeting was held with BLOs who have completed digitisation, and work is progressing at collection hubs to receive and upload forms.
According to the Commission’s preliminary assessment, 27.8 lakh voters in Kerala will be required to submit identity documents to be included in the SIR list. According to the estimate, 27.8 lakh people (10 per cent) do not have their own names or the names of their parents or guardians in the 2002 electoral roll. Of the 2.78 crore people provided with the enumeration form, 1.89 crore are already present in both the 2002 and 2025 rolls and do not need to submit documents. They only need to return the filled form.
There are 61.16 lakh people who were under 18 in 2002. Since their parents or guardians are on the list, they too will not be required to submit documents. The remaining 27.8 lakh voters will be included in the draft SIR list but will need to provide any one of the 12 identity documents mandated by the Commission to be retained in the final roll.
After publication of the draft list on 9 December, Electoral Registration Officers will issue notices directing these voters to submit the required documents. Most of them have voted in at least five elections. The scale of documentation required and the complexity involved pose the biggest challenge for the authorities.
At the same time, the Commission believes that most of these 27 lakh voters possess at least four of the 12 approved identity documents. Departments will be instructed to provide documents to those who lack them. Meanwhile, the long-standing request to include the ration card as one of the approved documents has not been accepted. Political parties have argued that ration cards should be considered, as they serve as a common form of identification for all families in the state.