Kerala to legally challenge SIR; Opposition says it is ready to become a party

Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on Wednesday that the state will legally challenge the implementation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The decision was taken at an all-party meeting held online by the CM here.

All parties except the BJP backed the government's move, an official release said.

The chief minister said that, with local body elections approaching, legal advice would be sought both by the government and by political parties on how to question the SIR.

He added that conducting a special intensive revision of the voter list based on the 2002 rolls, when an updated list from the last Lok Sabha election is already in force, was "unscientific" and carried "malicious intent".

Several political parties voiced concern that using the 2002 electoral roll as the base would create numerous problems and alleged that the SIR was being carried out with a specific ulterior motive.

Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, V D Satheesan, said they fully agreed with the concerns raised by the chief minister and were ready to become a party to the case if it reached court.

CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan called the move "unconstitutional and anti-democratic".

The meeting was organised a day after Booth Level Officers (BLOs) began visiting households to distribute and collect enumeration forms, following the launch of the SIR process by the ECI in the state.

Those who attended the all party meeting included P C Vishnunadh (INC), Sathyan Mokeri (CPI), P K Kunhalikutty (IUML), Stephen George (Kerala Congress M), P J Joseph (Kerala Congress), Mathew T Thomas (Janata Dal Secular), Thomas K Thomas (NCP), Uzhavalykkal Venugopal (Congress S), K G Premjith (Kerala Congress B), Adv Shaji G S Panicker (RSP Leninist), K R Girijan (Kerala Congress Jacob), K Surendran (BJP), N K Premachandran (RSP), Ahmad Devarkovil (INL), and Antony Raju (Democratic Kerala Congress).