Kerala High Court on Thursday suggested that it would be appropriate for the state government to approach the Supreme Court for deferment of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls being carried out by the Election Commission.
Taking up the Kerala government’s plea, Justice V.G. Arun said that since similar petitions from Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were pending before the Supreme Court, it would be appropriate for Kerala to move the apex court.
The Kerala government has been opposing the SIR, especially when the state is to hold local body polls in two phases on December 9 and 11. The state government highlighted administrative and logistical challenges because of the upcoming elections. Advocate-general Gopalakrishna Kurup said 1.76 lakh government employees and 68,000 security personnel would be deployed for the local body polls, and the SIR would require an additional 25,668 employees.
The state said that if the SIR is implemented at this juncture, the government machinery would come to a standstill. The high court will give its verdict on the writ petition on Friday.
When the high court asked why the state had not approached the Supreme Court, Kurup said the state election commission had already started implementing the SIR.
Senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the Election Commission, clarified that half of the SIR exercise has been completed in Kerala. The preparation for the SIR had started in October, and the enumeration forms are being distributed. Voters’ complaints will be taken up on December 4, and the draft voter list will be prepared between December 5 and December 8. The draft roll will be published on December 9, the first phase of the local body polls.