THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government will convene an all-party meeting to discuss the Election Commission’s decision to go ahead with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls despite objections raised by the state legislature.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the all-party meeting will be held at 4 pm on November 5.
The chief minister’s announcement came on a day when representatives of all recognised political parties, except the BJP, demanded postponement of SIR in view of the local body election during a meeting convened by the Chief Electoral Officer - Kerala Rathan U Kelkar. During the meeting, political parties urged the CEO to once again take up with the EC their demand to postpone SIR.
Registering his party’s strong protest, M V Jayarajan of the CPM expressed suspicion that the SIR was a tool for the backdoor imposition of the National Register of Citizens. Congress state president Sunny Joseph demanded that SIR be put off until after the local body elections. Representatives of the CPI, Muslim League, Kerala Congress, Kerala Congress(M) and RSP also slammed the decision to go ahead with SIR.