Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution against the Special Investigative Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, with a few minor amendments. The resolution was presented by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

One amendment added references to Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC), which were not mentioned in the draft published earlier on the assembly website. Another clarified that the resolution specifically refers to the Central Election Commission, addressing concerns that the original wording could cause ambiguity.

The resolution warns that SIR often results in the exclusion of minorities, women, SCs, STs, and economically weaker sections from the voter list. It equates the exercise to an attempt at implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC), recalling the widespread protests that erupted across the country against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the NRC. Though the Citizenship Act, 1955, empowers the government to maintain a register of Indian citizens, the BJP dropped its NRC proposal from the 2024 election manifesto following nationwide backlash.

Citing the Bihar SIR as an example, the resolution said large numbers of people were arbitrarily removed from the rolls, raising fears that the same “politics of exclusion” could spread nationwide. “There is a countrywide sentiment that similar methods will be implemented across states,” it stated.

The resolution also questioned the timing and intent of conducting SIR in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, given that its constitutional validity is still under consideration by the Supreme Court. It described the process as hurried and “clouded by suspicion,” suggesting it could be used to influence electoral outcomes.

Criticising the methodology, it said relying on the 2002 voter list was unscientific. The condition that citizens born before 1987 can vote only if they produce proof of their parents’ citizenship was described as a denial of voting rights. “Excluding citizens for lack of documents is a violation of constitutional rights,” it noted.

Earlier, Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar and political parties in the state had raised strong reservations against the SIR. Kelkar has already written to the Election Commission of India, urging that the revision be postponed until after the upcoming local body polls, which must be completed before December 21.