Concerns persist over SIR despite low number of omissions post hearing, say parties

Major political parties have stated that concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls still persist, even though only a little over 3,000 voters in the district have been found ineligible for inclusion in the final list during the hearing and verification phase, which concluded on Saturday (February 14). A clear picture of the entire exercise will emerge only with the publication of the final list, scheduled for February 21, the Congress and the CPI(M) argued, while the BJP expressed satisfaction with the ongoing process.

Of the 4,06,366 voters subjected to verification, district election officials have retained almost all except 3,058 as of February 12. Meanwhile, the status of 3,22,422 voters in the district who were included in the ASD (absentees, shifted and dead) category during the enumeration phase and removed from the draft rolls remains unclear.

Aggrieved persons who were included in the ASD list were allowed to file their claims in Form 6 until January 30, and these claims are still being processed.

“The real question concerns those who were placed on the ASD list. We still suspect that deliberate deletion with political motives may have occurred during the enumeration phase. Only the final list will reveal whether the voting rights of those included in the ASD category without valid reasons have been restored,” District Congress Committee president Muhammad Shiyas said.

Mohammed Shah, secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), echoed the concerns. “Only the final list will reveal whether those marked as shifted from a constituency during the enumeration phase have been included in the voters’ list of the constituency where they currently reside. Ideally, the difference in the number of voters between the pre-SIR list and the revised one should be around 5%. If there is a massive difference, we will explore options to challenge it,” Mr. Shah said.

CPI(M) district secretary S. Sathish said that doubts over the process remained. “We are cross-examining the data before and after the enumeration and hearing phases at the booth level,” he said.

The BJP, which has supported the SIR from the beginning, said it did not believe there was any political intervention at any stage of the process. “The verification was conducted in a very relaxed manner in the State with the aim of retaining all eligible voters on the list. The BJP has not challenged any rightful claim during the hearing,” K.S. Shyju, BJP district president (Ernakulam city), said.