Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday criticised the Election Commission (EC) for hastily deciding to implement the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in several states, including Kerala. He said the move poses a challenge to the democratic process.

Addressing the media in a press conference, the Chief Minister said the EC had ignored the opinions of political parties and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO, Kerala) before announcing the decision to conduct the SIR. He added that with local body elections approaching, implementing SIR now is impractical, as earlier communicated by the Chief Electoral Officer.

The Chief Minister announced that an all-party meeting will be convened on November 5 at 4 pm to discuss the issue.

On the controversy surrounding the PM SHRI scheme, the CM said that the state government will conduct a review before taking further action. A seven-member ministerial sub-committee has been formed to study the matter and submit a report. The scheme will be implemented only after the report is completed, and the decision will be formally communicated to the Centre through a letter.

General Education Minister V Sivankutty will chair the committee, with Ministers K Rajan, Roshy Augustine, P Rajeev, P Prasad, K Krishnankutty, and A K Saseendran as members. The Kerala government’s decision to reconsider the implementation of the PM SHRI scheme comes just seven days after the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the project was signed, following strong opposition from the CPI, a key ally of the ruling front.