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More than 24 lakh voters in Kerala were excluded when the Election Commission of India (ECI) released the draft electoral rolls after a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on December 23. Voters whose names are missing from the draft roll can submit claims till February 21.
Kerala had 2,78,50,856 voters on the rolls before the revision. As part of the SIR exercise, enumeration forms were distributed to all voters included in the October 2025 electoral roll. Of these, 2,54,42,352 forms have been received, accounting for a coverage of 91.35 per cent. The remaining 8.65 per cent, around 24,80,503 voters, who are yet to submit their forms have been included in the Absent, Shifted, Dead (ASD) list.
The Election Commission has identified 6,49,885 voters as deceased, while 6,45,548 persons have been categorised as “untraceable” during the enumeration process. There are 1,60,830 persons in the ‘others’ category, which constitute those who refused to accept or return the enumeration forms.
In a press meet, Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala Ratan U Khelkar said that there was no requirement to conduct hearings for the 24,08,503 voters in the ASD list. “If they want to be included in the electoral rolls, they should submit a declaration along with Form 6,” he said.
Khelkar said that those marked as untraceable were voters whom the BLOs could not meet despite making three house visits. “NRI’s too could be part of that. They can be included if they submit a declaration along with Form 6 A,” Khelkar told TNM.
Regarding those added in the ‘Others’ category, who refused to accept or return the enumeration forms, Khelkar said that they might not have interest or some other reason not to be part of the electoral roll.
Khelkar said steps have been initiated to ensure that constituency-wise draft voter lists are made available to all recognised political parties. Members of the public can verify their names on the Election Commission website by selecting their Assembly constituency, checking booth-wise details, or entering their EPIC number.
The time for filing claims and objections will remain open until February 21. Voters whose names are missing from the draft roll can submit claims during this window, while objections can also be filed for the deletion of wrongly included names. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on February 21.
Meanwhile, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will issue notices to voters who submitted forms with incomplete or insufficient information. Officials stressed that no voter will be removed arbitrarily, and that deletion of a name will take place only after a three-tier hearing process, ensuring due procedure and safeguards.
The Chief Electoral Officer also clarified that applications for inclusion of names can be filed using Form 6, overseas voters can apply through Form 6A, Form 7 can be used for deletion of names, and Form 8 for corrections or change of address.