Kerala SIR: electors should be summoned for hearings only in unavoidable cases, say political parties

Political parties have asked the Election Commission of India (EC) to ensure that electors are summoned for hearings only in unavoidable cases under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Kerala.

The demand came at the weekly political party meeting convened by Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) Rathan U. Kelkar. Political parties raised the issue amid concerns that notices would be issued on a large scale to electors in the ‘no mapping’ list and in cases where ‘logical discrepancies’ or inconsistencies have been detected in the entries.

There are a little over 19.32 lakh electors in Kerala in the ‘no mapping’ list, meaning their details could not be linked to the 2002 SIR list. Of this, notices for hearings have been generated in the case of 17.71 lakh electors, while they have been delivered in 18,915 cases. Kannur has the highest number of delivered notices with 3,632 and Thiruvananthapuram (314), the lowest.

“There should be an arrangement where hearings are avoided in cases where the elector submits sufficient documents and they are examined and found satisfactory at the level of the booth-level officer (BLO) or the electoral registration officer/assistant electoral registration officer (ERO/AERO),” M.K. Rahman who represented the Congress party told Saturday’s meeting.

Political parties wanted the EC to issue detailed directions to the EROs/AEROs so that hearings are restricted to unavoidable cases. They also repeated the demand that authorised representatives be allowed to appear on behalf of bedridden, aged and overseas electors.

While notices are to be generated in the cases of all electors in the ‘no mapping’ list, the decision whether they should be called for hearings rests with the ERO/AERO, Mr. Kelkar said. “They are Constitutional authorities and they decide whether a hearing is needed or not. But we have issued a guidance to them that the hearings should be held without causing inconvenience to the public,” Mr. Kelkar said. “The decision rests with the EROs/AEROs whether representatives can appear on behalf of an elector who is unable appear in person at the hearing. We can only guide them,” he added.

EROs/AEROs have been asked not to generate notices in cases of ‘logical discrepancies’ (inconsistencies) such as name mismatches or age difference. These can be resolved through an undertaking given by the BLO. “We have issued a sample of the undertaking to ERO/AERO, so that the BLOs can give the undertaking to close the matter,” he said.

Political parties also urged the EC to make sure that family members are grouped together in the electoral rolls. Several cases have come to light where they are scattered across polling stations, they said. D.K. Murali of the CPI(M) asked the EC to adopt a “practical approach” and take the political parties into confidence in conducting the SIR.