Kerala to launch new voter enrolment drive
AFTER the house-to-house enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll concluded on December 18, election authorities in Kerala are preparing to launch a focused drive to enrol new voters following the publication of the draft electoral rolls on Tuesday.
Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar said the special enrolment drive would primarily target citizens who have attained the age of 18 as well as eligible voters who are yet to be included in the rolls.
The initiative aims to ensure maximum inclusion ahead of the next phase of the electoral calendar.
According to Kelkar, election officials have already received 2.92 lakh applications under Form 6, which is used for fresh voter enrolment.
In addition, 15,157 applications have been submitted under Form 6A for overseas electors. These applications will be taken up for verification and processing after the draft rolls are published on Tuesday.
During the enumeration phase, digitisation of enumeration forms reached 100 per cent by 10 a.m. on December 18, marking a key operational milestone in the revision process.
However, a significant number of entries have been flagged as uncollectable under the Absent, Shifted and Dead (ASD) categories.
The total number of uncollectable forms stands at 24.81 lakh, accounting for about 8.91 per cent of the existing electorate.
This includes 6.49 lakh deceased voters, 6.89 lakh untraceable voters, 8.21 lakh shifted voters, 1.34 lakh duplicate entries and 1.86 lakh categorised under other reasons, said Kelkar.
Following requests from political parties, the ASD list has already been uploaded to the CEO's website.
An updated version of the list, incorporating corrections and names of voters who have since been traced, will be published along with the draft SIR rolls on December 23.
The list has also been shared with booth-level agents of political parties to assist in tracking missing voters.
Claims and objections to the draft electoral rolls can be filed between Tuesday and January 22, 2026, while the notice and hearing process will continue until February 14.
The final electoral rolls are scheduled to be published on February 21.
Kelkar noted that, as per election rules, additions and deletions can continue until the final date for filing nominations for the 2026 Assembly elections.
He also outlined the appeal mechanism available to voters whose names are excluded, with provisions for appeals before the District Election Officer and subsequently the Chief Electoral Officer.
