ECI cites motive to disrupt SIR in response to Kerala’s plea for deferring it

THe only if motive slow the Kerala regime’s averment of administrative impasse in holding local personify polls and revising the electoral roll simultaneously is to “disrupt” the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the Election Commission of India (ECI) has said in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court. The ECI said over 98% of SIR enumeration forms had been distributed so far.“The assertion that the state administrative machinery will come to a standstill is imaginary, and the only motive is to disrupt the SIR process, which is at the stage of completion of [the] enumeration phase,” said the affidavit in response to the Kerala government’s petition seeking SIR deferment.A Chief Justice of India Surya Kant-led bench is due to take up the matter on Tuesday. The bench last week sought ECI and Kerala State Election Commission (KSEC)’s response to the state’s plea.The Kerala government highlighted difficulties in undertaking SIR, which will coincide with polls for 1200 local self-government institutions (LSGI) on December 9 and 11, and counting on December 13.The ECI affidavit said the SIR enumeration phase will conclude by December 11. It added that 98.67% of enumeration forms had been distributed as of November 30, and 81.19% % have been digitized.The ECI called the assertion regarding the logistical or administrative inconvenience baseless and unsustainable. It said the polling will be over by December 13, and 176,000 personnel employed for poll duty will be free, and that the claims and objections phase begins on December 16 under the SIR. “Hence, there is no possibility of disruption of LSGI elections due to SIR,” the ECI said.The ECI reiterated that district collectors have been authorised to engage only those personnel for SIR who are not assigned to local body election duties.In its petition, Kerala said about 176,000 personnel are required for the LSGI election process, apart from 68,000 security personnel. “...SIR requires the services of additional personnel numbering 25,668. This puts a severe strain on the state administration, bringing routine administrative work to a standstill,” said the plea filed through advocate CK Sasi.The state reserved its right to later question the SIR’s validity as “not conducive to the democratic polity”. It clarified that the present petition only seeks a limited relief to ensure the smooth conduct of local body polls by deferring SIR.The ECI said the plea of logistical or administrative inconvenience is wholly misconceived and unsustainable, as both processes are structured to proceed in a staggered and mutually exclusive manner, enabling their smooth and efficient conduct without prejudice to either. It pointed out that an overlap is not unprecedented, as the last LSGI election in Kerala in 2020 was conducted simultaneously with the Special Summary Revision. “Except for the enumeration phase, all pre-revision and revision activities during the 2020 special summary revision were identical to those of the current SIR exercise.”The ECI questioned the maintainability of the state government’s plea. It said the superintendence and conduct of local body elections is within the state election commission’s domain. It said that the KSEC has expressed no difficulty in holding the polls along with the SIR.“The KSEC has not raised any objections to the simultaneous conduct of SIR. In fact, the KSEC and the chief electoral officer (CEO), Kerala, are functioning in close coordination to ensure the smooth and efficient conduct of both the local body elections and the SIR without disruption to either process,” the ECI said.KSEC supported this view in a separate affidavit. “There is no report of paucity of polling staff by the District Election Officers. There is adequate administrative machinery at the command of the SEC.”