Special Intensive Revision drawing to a close in Kerala, hearings over in 122 Assembly constituencies

Hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll have been completed in 122 Assembly constituencies even as the hearing and verification phase is scheduled to end on Saturday (February 14).

So far, 39,297 individuals have been excluded from the voter roll after hearings, Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar said on Friday. The hearings in the remaining constituencies are expected to be completed by Saturday.

Names removed from the roll include those of 4,217 voters who died during the SIR enumeration phase, 1,630 individuals who relinquished Indian citizenship and 33,450 individuals who have shifted their locations.

Theye were excluded after proper verification and on the basis of sufficient reasons, Mr. Kelkar said.

The CEO is scheduled to hold a meeting with the political parties on the outcome of the SIR on Tuesday.

EC officials to visit Kerala

Senior officials of the Election Commission (EC) of India will visit Kerala on February 22 and 23 in the run-up to the 2026 Assembly elections, Mr. Kelkar said. The EC delegation will consist of Deputy Election Commissioners who head various divisions in the EC.

“We will present before them the steps that we have taken for the conduct of the elections. Based on their feedback, we will plug any gaps in the system,” he said.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is also expected to visit the State at a later date, although the schedule has not been finalised.

As part of the preparations for the elections, training plans for election officials have also been finalised, Mr. Kelkar said.

Vote Vandi flagged off

Mr. Kelkar flagged off the ‘Vote Vandi’ — Model Demonstration Vans for Electrinic Voting Machine (EVM) Awareness — in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday as part of the voter awareness campaigns ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.

There will be one van for each Assembly constituency. The vehicles for the 14 constituencies in Thiruvananthapuram district were flagged off from the Kanakakkunnu Palace premises on Friday.