Poll preparations intensify in Ernakulam as officials balance SIR and election duties

With less than a week left for polling, the district election office at the civil station in Kakkanad is brimming with activity. Election-related work began in July, starting with first-level checks of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) stored in the office. The process reached a crucial stage on Wednesday (December 3, 2025) with the commissioning of the EVMs, making them poll-ready. Ballots were inserted into the EVMs as part of the commissioning work.

While the district election office has a strength of only six officials, nearly 30 officials from various departments at the civil station are handling election-related responsibilities almost round the clock, the officials said.

The early responsibilities of the election wing included appointing returning officers (ROs) for the 111 local bodies in the district and providing them with the necessary training. There are a total of 116 ROs, including one additional officer for each of the three larger municipalities and two extra for the Kochi Corporation. Voter roll renewal was carried out in three phases ahead of the polls, including hearings, addressing complaints, and revising the rolls.

Polling staff for all local bodies have been deployed through e-DROP, a web application developed by the National Informatics Centre. Over 12,000 polling officials will be on duty across 3,021 polling stations in the district on polling day.

The officials will be busy issuing postal ballots as well as distributing polling materials for each station in the coming days. While applications for postal ballots were received at the district office until Wednesday, they could be submitted to the concerned ROs until 5 p.m. on December 6. The materials, including EVMs, will be distributed from 28 centres designated for the purpose.

The responsibilities of the officials will conclude only after the counting of votes on December 13. The poll work, coinciding with the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, has added to the officials’ workload this time.

“The Revenue officials had to face many difficulties as they were engaged in both SIR and election-related work this time. Despite the stress, the preparations for the polls have been conducted flawlessly,” said Sunil Mathew, Deputy Collector (Elections).