Chief Electoral Officer Rathan Kelkar and election officials handing over SIR enumeration forms to actor Madhu at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
Enumeration forms were distributed to more than 2.07 lakh people till 8 p.m. on Tuesday with the house-to-house enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list kicking off in Kerala.
Chief Electoral Officer Rathan Kelkar said the number is likely to be higher, in fact, for the first day as all the booth-level officers have not uploaded their data online.
The first day of the enumeration phase focussed largely on elderly citizens. In Thiruvananthapuram, Mr. Kelkar and senior Election officials called on actor Madhu, who turned 92 in September, to hand over the enumeration form.
This phase of the exercise has started amid objections against the SIR raised by the Kerala Assembly and major political parties.
On Wednesday, the Kerala government is scheduled to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the situation where the Election Commission of India (EC) has opted to proceed with the SIR despite the State’s objections. The meeting, planned for 4.30 p.m., will be held online, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office said.
BLOs began distributing and collecting the enumeration forms, a phase which will last till December 4, according to the EC. In this phase, BLOs are handing out the forms to all voters who are in the EC’s voter rolls as on October 27, 2025.
Voters are required to fill out the forms, affix a colour photo (although this is not mandatory), and collect the receipt from the BLO.
The first-day feedback from BLOs has been mixed. While they have started the distribution of forms, in many cases they leave them with the voters if they cannot get it filled out then and there.
“In some cases, there may be only elderly members in the households when we visit. They may not be aware where documents such as Aadhaar cards are kept. In such cases, we leave the forms with them to collect it later,” Rajeev Kumar, a BLO in Vattiyoorkavu, Thiruvananthapuram district, said.
Suresh, an Industries department staffer who covers Rajakkad, Idukki as BLO, said he preferred to get the form filled out right away. “It’s all high range area and getting around is tough. Since the actual entering of data takes only a few minutes, I prefer to get the forms filled out right away,” Mr. Suresh said.
BLOs are also yet to receive the full batch of the enumeration forms meant for their respective jurisdiction. So the house-to-house enumeration is expected to gather momentum over the next few days, according to them.
“I’ve received 300 forms. I am supposed to cover 1,319 voters in all,” Lily P., an anganwadi worker who is a BLO in the Kanhangad Constituency in Kasaragod.
With respect to awareness, the fact that the SIR has coincided with the work for the 2025 local body elections has created some confusion in the minds of the people, according to some BLOs. This, however, does not adversely impact their work on getting the forms filled out, they added.
The verification phase of the SIR will begin after the publication of the draft rolls on December 9. The final rolls will be published on February 7.
Order amendment
The State government has slightly amended an order issued on Monday stating that BLOs will be treated as being on full-time duty with the EC till December 4 and would be granted “duty off” from all their regular departmental duties.
In an amended order on Tuesday, the government said this condition will not apply to officers and staff engaged by the State Election Commission in connection with the local body elections.
Published – November 04, 2025 09:18 pm IST
