THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The final voters’ list for the assembly election, prepared after completing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, has 2.69 crore voters — around 9 lakh fewer before the revision. The final roll will be published on February 21.
There were 2.78 crore voters in the roll before the SIR. “Of the 36.88 lakh voters summoned for hearing, 53,229 were excluded from the final roll. They were found to be either dead, had accepted overseas citizenship, shifted or were detected as duplicate entries,” Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)- Kerala Rathan U Kelkar said in a meeting with political party representatives here on Friday.
Notably, the final voters’ list for the assembly election will have 16.54 lakh fewer electors compared to the December 2025 local body voters’ list. The civic poll-specific roll prepared by the State Election Commission had 2.86 crore electors.
At the meeting, M V Jayarajan of the CPM highlighted the “glaring difference” in the number of voters for local body elections and the assembly polls. P C Vishnunadh of the Congress pointed out that voters in a family had been scattered to different booths in the draft list published on December 23 and urged the panel to rectify the anomaly.
Kelkar said 15.10 lakh voters had applied for enrolment between October 27, 2025 (when the electoral roll was frozen for SIR) and January 30, 2026 (when the time frame for filing claims and objections ended). Of these, 1.66 lakh applications were rejected, he said.
Applicants can file an appeal with the district election officer (district collector) within 15 days of rejection of application. They can also file an appeal with the CEO against the DEO’s decision within 30 days.
“All eligible citizens can apply for fresh enrolment in the voters’ list till the last day of filing of nominations by candidates,” Kelkar said. On the rationalisation of polling booths, the CEO said voting in the assembly elections will be held in 30,471 polling stations. There will be 119 centres for distribution and collection of polling materials and 41 centres for counting.
A team of senior Election Commission officials will visit the state on February 22 and 23 to take stock of the poll preparedness.