Thiruvananthapuram: After Bihar, Kerala is all set to implement the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll ahead of the Assembly elections. Addressing the media here on Friday, Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Dr Rathan U Kelkar said that SIR will soon be introduced in the state, and Booth Level Officers will visit every household as part of the preliminary exercise.

SIR aims to create a fresh electoral roll in the state by ensuring that duplicate entries are removed, the CEO pointed out.

“Voters need not panic about SIR. Those who hold valid documents will not be removed from the list. Only ineligible names will be deleted,” he said.

He added that a meeting of political parties has been convened on September 20 to discuss the introduction of SIR in the state.

The Election Commission of India is yet to issue a schedule for the SIR implementation, said the CEO. He added that preparations for the SIR launch have already been initiated in the state.

“ BLOs will visit each house and verify the documents of the voters. The voters can either upload the form online by themselves or with the help of the BLOs,” he said.

“ SIR means preparation of a fresh electoral roll. But we are taking the 2002 electoral roll as the base for the revision. All steps of the SIR process will be transparent and easy to follow. Currently, anyone can check the voters’ list through the official website of the election commission,” he added.

The Chief Electoral Officer confirmed that Kerala will implement SIR in the same manner as Bihar. BLOs are being trained as part of the preparations for the launch of the SIR.

As per reports, the Election Commission of India is planning to roll out SIR on a pan-India basis and exercise to clean up the voter list across states by the end of 2025. After a day-long meeting of EC's state chief electoral officers in New Delhi on September 10, officials said with as many as five assembly polls due next year, the all-India SIR could take place in the coming months in 2025. Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are due in 2026.

The primary aim of the intensive revision is to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth.

In Bihar, SIR triggered a controversy after opposition parties questioned the timing of the exercise and claimed that crores of eligible citizens will be denied voting rights for want of documents. The Supreme Court has asked the EC to ensure that no eligible citizen is left behind.