Over 24 lakh names excluded from Kerala draft electoral roll
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Thiruvananthapuram: The draft electoral roll prepared under Kerala’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has been published, State Chief Electoral Officer Ratan U. Khelkar said on Tuesday, prompting political and public scrutiny after it emerged that over 24 lakh names have been excluded.
Kerala had 2,78,50,856 voters on the rolls prior to the revision. As part of the SIR exercise, enumeration forms were distributed to all voters listed in the October 2025 electoral roll. Of these, 2,54,42,352 forms have been received, covering 91.35 per cent of voters. The remaining 8.65 per cent—around 24,80,503 voters—have yet to submit their forms.
The Election Commission identified 6,49,885 voters as deceased, while 6,45,548 persons were categorised as “untraceable” during enumeration. Based on the received forms, a booth-level draft list comprising about 2.54 crore voters has now been prepared and published.
Khelkar said steps are being taken to ensure constituency-wise draft voter lists are available to all recognised political parties. Members of the public can verify their names on the Election Commission website by selecting their Assembly constituency, checking booth-wise details, or entering their EPIC number.
The period for filing claims and objections remains open until February 21. Voters missing from the draft roll can submit claims, while objections can also be filed for names wrongly included. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on February 21.
Special provisions have been made for voters marked “untraceable” who were unable to submit enumeration forms during the SIR phase. Such voters can still be included by submitting a declaration along with Form 6 within the stipulated period.
Electoral Registration Officers will issue notices to voters who submitted incomplete or insufficient forms. Officials emphasised that no voter will be removed arbitrarily, and deletions will occur only after a three-tier hearing process, ensuring due procedure and safeguards.
Khelkar also clarified that applications for inclusion of names can be filed using Form 6, overseas voters can apply through Form 6A, Form 7 can be used for deletion of names, and Form 8 for corrections or change of address. He underlined that the revision process remains open, participatory, and transparent.
With IANS inputs