The Kerala government, backed by all major parties except the BJP, will challenge the Election Commission’s special voter roll revision in the Supreme Court. CM Pinarayi Vijayan said the move based on the 2002 list is “unscientific” and “ill-intentioned.”
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala has announced that it will approach the Supreme Court against the Election Commission’s decision to conduct a special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in the state.
According to Onmanorama, the decision was taken after an all-party meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram.
All political parties that attended the meeting, except the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), supported the Kerala government’s stand to legally challenge the Election Commission’s move.
On Tuesday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) began the enumeration phase for the revision of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union Territories, including Kerala.
The revision exercise, announced by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on October 27, also covers Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry — all of which are due for Assembly elections in 2026.
As per the Election Commission’s schedule, the draft electoral rolls will be published on December 9, 2025, and the final list will be released on February 7, 2026.
Interestingly, the Kerala government’s decision comes soon after Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) moved the Supreme Court against the same exercise, calling it a case of “constitutional overreach”.
The DMK petition argued that the special revision could result in “large-scale disenfranchisement of voters,” claiming that many eligible citizens might lose their right to vote.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that both the Kerala government and the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) would “seek legal advice on challenging the exercise,” especially considering the local body elections scheduled in November or December this year.
According to a statement from the Chief Minister’s office quoted by the Hindustan Times, Vijayan said,
“While a revised voter list is in place following the Lok Sabha elections last year, the move to implement a radical voter list revision based on the 2002 list is both unscientific and ill-intentioned.”
VD Satheesan, the Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader, also supported the Chief Minister’s view during the meeting. He said he was ready to be part of the case if the state government decided to move the Supreme Court.
ALSO READ: Judiciary Exists for Citizens, Judges Are No More Feudal Lords: CJI BR Gavai
CPI(M) State Secretary MV Govindan also sharply criticized the Election Commission’s action, calling it “unconstitutional” and “anti-democratic”, according to the Hindustan Times.
Earlier, in September 2025, the Kerala Legislative Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution opposing the Election Commission’s plan for the special revision. The Assembly said the decision was “hasty” and could “harm the rights of citizens.”
The controversy surrounding the voter list revision has also been witnessed in other states. In Bihar, where the revision was completed before the ongoing Assembly elections, nearly 47 lakh voters were reportedly left out of the final list published on September 30. This led to widespread concern and several petitions being filed in court.
Following these developments, on September 8, the Supreme Court of India directed the Election Commission to accept Aadhaar as a valid identity proof for the revision process in Bihar.
Earlier, Aadhaar was not among the 11 documents accepted by the Commission as proof of citizenship. Petitioners had argued that excluding Aadhaar was “absurd” since it is the most widely held identification document in the country.
Despite the criticism, the Election Commission has consistently defended the special revision exercise, saying that it is aimed at cleaning up the electoral rolls by removing names of deceased persons, duplicate entries, and undocumented migrants.
With Kerala and Tamil Nadu both planning to challenge the Election Commission’s move in the Supreme Court, the issue has now taken a major legal and political turn, raising questions about the balance between election management and constitutional rights of voters in India.
Click Here to Read More Reports On Corruption Case
