Considering the reservations expressed by political parties in Kerala, Chief Electoral Officer Kerala Rathan U Kelkar has written to the Election Commission of India to put off the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Kerala till December 21, the date the newly-elected local bodies in Kerala will have to be sworn in.  

The CEO Kerala's decision to seek a later date was also influenced by the logistics involved in the conduct of the SIR. It is the returning officers of the local body polls who will have to carry out the SIR, too. Officers tasked with conducting the local body polls will also have to do the field work, screening and even the mobile updation of data related to the SIR. This will cause a clash of responsibilities that could affect both the conduct of the local body polls and the SIR.

Rathan U Kelkar told Onmanorama that he has asked for the postponement of the SIR until the local body elections are completed in Kerala. The CEO Kerala sources said that only three months were required for the SIR. "Even if we start in January next year, we can complete the process before the next Assembly elections in May 2026," a senior officer said. In Bihar, too, the Election Commission of India had given just three months for the SIR exercise. 

Major political parties in Kerala, except the BJP, had, during a meeting convened by the CEO Kerala on September 20, called for the postponement of the SIR. The imminent local body polls was one of the reasons parties objected to the SIR. 

Another major complaint was the use of the 2002 electoral rolls; 2002 was the last time SIR was held in Kerala. Parties wanted the Election Commission to base the SIR exercise on the latest 2024 electoral rolls. They also wanted ration cards to be used as one of the 'proof of citizenship' documents. In Bihar, the ration card was not in the list of documents.

The CEO Kerala had earlier said that the groundwork for the SIR in Kerala began the moment the Bihar schedule was announced. He was also expecting the Kerala schedule to be announced in October. 

The conference of chief electoral officers (CEOs) of all states and Union Territories, called by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in New Delhi on September 10, was a clear sign that the SIR will be a pan-Indian exercise.

There are two kinds of revisions: special intensive revision (SIR) and special summary revision (SSR). SSR is done four times a year, and each time the electoral roll will be published for the public to come up with objections and seek corrections.

SIR is very rarely done; the earlier one in Bihar was in 2003, and the last one in Kerala was in 2002. It is done to create an electoral roll afresh, and unlike in the case of SSR, it will involve house visits by booth-level officers.

When the draft electoral roll was published in Bihar on August 1, 65 lakh electors who had their names in the 2024 voters' list were found missing.