Over 24 lakh names excluded from Kerala draft electoral roll, claims open till Feb 21

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 23 The draft electoral roll prepared under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Kerala has been published, State Chief Electoral Officer Ratan U. Khelkar said on Tuesday, triggering political and public scrutiny after it emerged that over 24 lakh names have been excluded from the list.

According to official figures, Kerala had 2,78,50,856 voters on the rolls before the revision. As part of the SIR exercise, enumeration forms were distributed to all voters included in the October 2025 electoral roll.

Of these, 2,54,42,352 forms have been received, accounting for a coverage of 91.35 per cent. The remaining 8.65 per cent -- around 24,80,503 voters -- are yet to submit their forms.

The Election Commission has identified 6,49,885 voters as deceased, while 6,45,548 persons have been categorised as “untraceable” during the enumeration process. Based on the forms received, a booth-level draft list comprising about 2.54 crore voters has now been prepared and published.

Khelkar said steps have been initiated to ensure that constituency-wise draft voter lists are made available to all recognised political parties. Members of the public can verify their names on the Election Commission website by selecting their Assembly constituency, checking booth-wise details, or entering their EPIC number.

The time for filing claims and objections will remain open until February 21. Voters whose names are missing from the draft roll can submit claims during this window, while objections can also be filed for the deletion of wrongly included names. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on February 21.

Special provisions have been made for voters listed as “untraceable” who were unable to submit enumeration forms during the SIR phase. Such voters can still be included in the rolls by submitting a declaration along with Form 6 within the stipulated period.

Meanwhile, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will issue notices to voters who submitted forms with incomplete or insufficient information. Officials stressed that no voter will be removed arbitrarily, and that deletion of a name will take place only after a three-tier hearing process, ensuring due procedure and safeguards.

The Chief Electoral Officer also clarified that applications for inclusion of names can be filed using Form 6, overseas voters can apply through Form 6A, Form 7 can be used for deletion of names, and Form 8 for corrections or change of address, underscoring that the revision process remains open and participatory.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor