SIR Deadline Extended; Draft Voter List on December 16

Thiruvananthapuram: The Election Commission of India has extended the deadline for the SIR (Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls). The new deadline is December 16. Forms must be submitted by December 11. The draft voter list will be published after that.

The Election Commission had earlier maintained that the SIR would not be extended, even though several BLOs (Booth Level Officers) resigned citing that they could not manage the workload in the given timeframe. The draft voter list was originally scheduled to be published on December 4.

The extension applies to 12 states, including Kerala and Tamil Nadu. If there are objections or corrections in the draft voter list, they must be reported within a month of its publication. The last date for submitting complaints or objections is January 15, 2026. The final list will be published on February 14.

From the day the SIR was implemented, several issues were raised, including the workload of BLOs and the difficulty of distributing and collecting forms within the short timeframe. In Kannur, some BLOs even resigned due to these difficulties.

All political parties in Kerala had demanded that the SIR should not be implemented in a rush. During the all-party meeting convened by the Chief Electoral Officer the previous day, there was a flood of complaints. Only the BJP supported implementing the SIR on a tight schedule.