Election Commission of India tells Supreme Court that Kerala's request to postpone the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls has no legal merit.
Published Nov 26, 2025 | 2:20 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 26, 2025 | 7:09 PM
Supreme Court
Synopsis: Kerala had sought a postponement, arguing that holding the SIR alongside local elections would strain the administration and trigger a governance crisis.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday, 26 November, told the Supreme Court that that was no need for postponing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Kerala since 99 percent of voters have already received the forms.
It also said 50 percent of the forms have been digitised. The ECI made the submission while the court was hearing Kerala’s plea, seeking immediate postponement of SIR since it overlapped with elections to local self-government bodies in the state.
Lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI, said the SIR work has almost been completed and that it would not affect the polls.
He further informed the court that the ECI and the State Election Commission (SEC) were working in coordination, and only a few Block Level Officers (BLOs) were required for the SIR work.
After hearing the arguments, a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, also comprising
Justice Joymalya Bagchi, posted the case for 2 December. The court also directed both ECI and SEC to file counter affidavits by Monday, 1 December.
Earlier, in an affidavit, the ECI said it can seek the court’s intervention if any hurdle arose during the election process, stressing that election matters fell solely under its authority.
The ECI also noted that SIR was not disrupting preparations for the local body polls and that district collectors were cooperating fully.
The Commission urged the court not to stop the SIR under any circumstances.
Kerala moved the Supreme Court seeking a postponement of the SIR till the completion of the local body elections, scheduled for 9 and 11 December.
However, the CPI(M), CPI and IUML’s PK Kunhalikutty sought the scrapping of the SIR.
Kerala had sought a postponement, arguing that holding the SIR alongside local elections would strain the administration and trigger a governance crisis.
While requesting the deferring of SIR, Kerala cited a potential administrative breakdown if the process continued alongside the local body elections currently underway in the state.
Chief Secretary Dr A Jayathilak, representing the state government, filed a writ petition before the apex court, arguing that the simultaneous deployment of personnel for both exercises would cripple the routine functioning of the administration.
In the petition, the government pointed out that conducting the SIR at this juncture would strain the government machinery.
According to the plea, 1,76,000 officials have already been deployed for the conduct of local body elections. An additional 68,000 police personnel are involved in ensuring security. The SIR process requires 25,668 more officials, creating a situation that the government warned would lead to “administrative gridlock.”
The petition stressed that the constitutional mandate requires newly elected local body governing bodies to assume office by 21 December, making the election process non-negotiable and resource-intensive.
Deploying government staff simultaneously for SIR would, the state argued, disrupt essential services.
The Chief Secretary also informed the Supreme Court that hurriedly undertaking the SIR could result in widespread errors in the voters’ roll, defeating the very purpose of the review. The state government had earlier moved the Kerala High Court, challenging the timing of the SIR.
Justice VG Arun, after hearing both the state government and the Election Commission of India (ECI), observed that it would be more appropriate for the government to seek relief from the Supreme Court.
Following this, Chief Secretary Jayathilak submitted the plea before the apex court seeking a direction to temporarily suspend the SIR process until the completion of local body elections.
