Will not interfere in SIR; Can approach SC, HC completes state government's plea

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has completed the state government's plea to defer the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR). The court also ordered to approach the Supreme Court. The government approached the high court seeking a stay on the revision of the SIR while the elections to the local bodies were underway. The high court had earlier said that it would be appropriate to approach the Supreme Court on the issue.

The state government alleged that the move to implement SIR based on the 2002 list, when a revised electoral roll was in place during the last Lok Sabha elections, was unscientific and ill-intentioned. An all-party meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had decided to legally question the implementation of SIR in Kerala.

Except BJP, all the parties present in the meeting supported the government's decision. The government approached the court after this. The demand was that the SIR should be stopped immediately and should be implemented only after December 20. Moreover, the government argued in the high court that deploying officials for SIR during the local body elections would disrupt administrative matters.

The SIR should be completed by December 4. The government argued that there would be many practical problems if the same officials were involved in two important tasks when the local body elections were to be held on December 9 and 11. The Center's stand is that this government's petition is malicious at a time when 55 percent of the work has been completed. The Election Commission had also informed the court that there would be no administrative hindrance.