SIR: over 50,000 hearings held in Ernakulam

Hearings have been held for over 50,000 people in Ernakulam to reinstate their voting rights as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the State’s voter rolls.

A total of 51,279 hearings were held across 14 assembly constituencies in the district by Wednesday (January 14, 2025) evening, over nine days since the process began on January 6.

Notices for hearings have to be issued to a total of 4,71,541 people in the district. Of these, notices have been generated for 2,06,306, sources said. In many cases, one person from a family has appeared for the hearing on behalf of other members who were also issued notices.

The maximum number of hearings has been held in the Thripunithura constituency (5,919). This is followed by Kunnathunad and Thrikkakara, where 5,303 and 5,287 hearings have been held, respectively. Perumbavoor (4,457), Ernakulam (4,268), Kochi (4,190), and Piravom (4,030) are among the constituencies where the process has gained momentum.

Kothamangalam is at the bottom of the list, with only 1,074 hearings held till Wednesday. “Almost all the people who have attended the hearing and produced the required identity proofs have been found eligible to be included in the revised voter roll,” a district official involved in the exercise said.

Those who have fallen on the ‘unmapped’ list following the enumeration phase of the SIR are being called for hearings. Though they were included in the draft voter roll after the enumeration, they had not been mapped to the base list of 2002, as no link could be found to connect the two lists for verifying their identities and locations.

Thripunithura, Thrikkakara, Ernakulam, and Kochi are among the constituencies with a higher number of unmapped voters who are required to undergo the hearing process.

The hearing is being held to verify indicative documents to ascertain an individual’s eligibility as an elector and to confirm their whereabouts prior to the last SIR conducted in 2002. The notice phase (hearings and verification) will end on February 14, and the final list is scheduled to be published on February 21.