The State Election Commission (SEC) has recommended that the Summary Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls for the upcoming Assembly elections be carried out only after the completion of the local body polls.
In a meeting with Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rathan U. Kelkar on Tuesday in Thiruvananthapuram, State Election Commissioner A. Shajahan pointed out that holding both processes simultaneously would be impractical. This is because both the SEC and the Election Commission of India rely on the same officials, including those up to the level of district collectors, for conducting the exercises.
The SEC plans to organize local body elections in November–December. Undertaking SIR alongside these polls would overburden the administrative machinery and affect the efficiency of both processes, the Commission noted.
Meanwhile, the process of earmarking reserved constituencies for the local body elections will be held across Kerala from October 13 to 21. The reservation rotation will be decided through a draw of lots in the order of woman, Scheduled Caste woman, Scheduled Tribe woman, Scheduled Caste, and Scheduled Tribe seats.
The SEC stressed that spacing out these electoral exercises would ensure smoother conduct of both polls and revisions.
