IUML Moves Supreme Court To Halt SIR Process in Kerala, Cites Local Body Elections & BLO's Death

The Indian Union Muslim League has approached the Supreme Court by way of a writ petition seeking an immediate halt to the Special Interim Revision process currently underway in Kerala, arguing that the exercise cannot be conducted simultaneously with the ongoing Local Body elections. 

The writ petition seeks the quashing of the October 27 notification of the Election Commission of India which announced the SIR process for the electoral rolls in Kerala.

The IUML, in the petition filed through its General Secretary PK Kunhalikutty, informed the Court that the State Election Commission has already notified the Local Body polls, which are scheduled to be held in two phases on December 9 and 11, whereas the draft roll after SIR is to be published on December 9. 

The party has contended that conducting the Special Interim Revision parallel to an active election process is contrary to established electoral practice and undermines the integrity and stability of the poll process. Hence, the ECI's decision is challenged as arbitrary for stipulating "unrealistic timelines."

It is also argued that the decision was not preceded by any finding regarding fraud, duplication or systematic corruption in the Kerala rolls. Hence, the "attempt to overwrite a valid, existing electoral roll and impose sweeping re-verification requirements" is challenged as unreasonable and arbitrary.

"In the absence of any documented irregularities or breakdown of the electoral system in Kerala, the invocation of Section 21 of RP Act for a special revision on such sweeping terms is disproportionate and ultra vires the statute," the plea argues. It is argued that nowhere does the Representation of the People Act, 1950 authorize blanket deletion or neutralization of a validly existing electoral roll, especially without individualised determinations or complaints about errors or ineligibility.

In the accompanying application seeking stay of the process, the petitioner referred to the tragic incident reported in Kerala on Sunday involving the death of a Booth Level Officer named Aneesh George. It is alleged that the officer's death was due to suicide triggered by the extreme work pressure arising from the Special Interim Revision exercise. "Several BLOs have complained that despite on the field from 7 am in the morning to 8 pm and working even on Saturdays and Sundays, it is humanly impossible for them to cover the houses and to distribute the enumeration forms," the application stated.

It is stated that the time of one month given for the process, especially when the local polls are underway, is highly insufficient. Also, a significant population of the State are NRIs.

According to the IUML Secretary, the process is designed in such an impractical way to cause the mass deletion of voters. 

"The only intention behind this SIR where the durations for 30 days and when the State is going for the local body elections and putting unnecessary pressure in the State officers and also putting the NRI voters at peril, is to exclude as much as voters from the draft voters list as possible. This is violative of the basic principles of the citizens right to vote and also violative of the various provisions of the COI as well as the provisions of the RP Act," the IUML argued.

It may be noted that the State of Kerala had last week approached the Kerala High Court seeking to defer the SIR process until the local body elections. However, the Kerala High Court declined interference, suggesting that the State approach the Supreme Court which is seized of the SIR-related matters.

The writ petition was drawn by Advocate Haris Beeran and filed through Advocate RS Jena.

Case : PK Kunhalikutty v Election Commission of India and another