The Kerala legislative assembly will unanimously pass a resolution against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will present the resolution in the assembly on Monday. 

In a recent meeting convened by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Kerala, Rathan U Kelkar, political parties in Kerala have expressed reservations against the SIR. Kelkar has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to postpone the SIR in Kerala until the local body polls are held in the state. Newly-elected local bodies will have to be sworn-in before December 21. 

The State Election Commission (SEC) has also announced revision of voters list in Kerala and published the schedule for the selection of reservation wards in local bodies in Kerala ahead of the polls. The resolution published on the assembly website says that SIR is another way of implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC). 

The country had witnessed massive protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Indian Citizens. The Citizenship Act, 1955 lays down provisions for the government to register every Indian citizen and issue an identity card and prepare a register of Indian citizens. In the wake of protests, the BJP's election manifesto released in 2024 had dropped preparation of the NRC.

According to the resolution to be presented in the assembly, Bihar SIR demonstrated the politics of exclusion. "People were excluded from the voters list without any rationale. There is a country wide sentiment that same method will be implemented across the nation," the resolution reads.

The Chief Minister says in the resolution that while the Supreme Court considers the constitutional validity of the Bihar SIR, the move to conduct SIR in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal is dubious. There is an attempt to do it hurriedly and the Election Commission has been clouded by suspicion since such a hasty conduct of SIR raises concerns over the possibilities of scuttling the outcome in the elections. 

"Conducting SIR based on the 2002 list is unscientific. The condition that those who are born before 1987 shall become a voter only if they present the proof of citizenship of their parents eliminates the right to cast votes. Being excluded from the list for want of documents is a violation of the constitutional right," the resolution notes.

Studies show that minorities, women and people from poor families are often excluded during the SIR, the resolution points out. The resolution calls for the EC to revise the electoral rolls in a transparent manner.