Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph has alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is forcing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls on the electorate here despite opposition from the State’s main political parties.
He was here on Monday to open a signature campaign against electoral malpractices, termed as ‘vote theft’ by Rahul Gandhi, Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, organised by the Kozhikode District Congress Committee (DCC).
Mr. Joseph said that Rathan U. Kelkar, State Election Commissioner, had conducted a meeting of political parties to discuss steps related to the SIR recently. Representatives of the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) pointed out that the exercise could be put off for the time being because the schedule for the local body polls was getting nearer. However, Mr. Kelkar told them that he could not do much about it as he had been directed by the ECI to hold the SIR here without delay.
Mr. Joseph said that if the proposals for the SIR were to be implemented, around 55 lakh voters whose names were included in the electoral rolls after 2002 would have to produce their documents again to prove their eligibility. “The whole meeting was a farce…. It looks like the ECI and the State Election Commission are determined to inflict hardships on the people,” he added.
Writer and activist M.N. Karassery and writer U.K. Kumaran signed their names to open the campaign. KPCC general secretaries K. Jayanth and P.M. Niyas and DCC president K. Praveenkumar, among others, were present.
Published – September 22, 2025 10:28 pm IST
