The office of Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar has lodged a complaint with the cyber police following reports of misinformation campaigns linked to list of absent, shifted or dead (ASD) voters.
In connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, Mr. Kelkar’s office had published the ASD list online ahead of the publication of the draft roll on December 23.
Mr. Kelkar said here on Thursday that the complaint was lodged following the “misuse” of the list on social media. Mr. Kelkar said his office had received information that some people were portraying the list as the final one. The draft electoral roll will be published only on December 23. Along with that, an updated ASD list also will be published, he said.
Parties’ request
Mr. Kelkar warned the people to be on guard against such fake information. According to election officials, the number of uncollectable forms (ASD voters) stands at 24.81 lakh. This includes 6.49 lakh deceased voters, 6.89 lakh untraceable voters, 8.21 lakh shifted voters, 1.34 lakh duplicated names and 1.86 lakh in the ‘others’ category.
The ASD list was published online in advance following a request made by the political parties at the weekly review chaired by the CEO. This was done so that political parties also could help trace the missing voters.
Published – December 18, 2025 05:23 pm IST
