Kerala SIR: Massive ASD entries at polling booths spark concern
Kerala SIR: Massive ASD entries at polling booths spark concern
Unusually large ASD entries in Kerala's polling booths raise concerns as the draft rolls are set to be published under the Special Intensive Revision.
The surprisingly large number of entries in the Absent, Shifted, Deceased (ASD) list in some polling booths in Kerala has sparked concern ahead of the formal publication of the draft electoral rolls on December 23 under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). For instance, one polling booth in the Thiruvananthapuram Assembly constituency – Northern portion of East Building of Sree Pattom Thanu Pillai UPS Sreevaraham (No - 138) – has 704 entries in the ASD list. While 16 are names of deceased voters, the vast majority, 592, have been listed as 'Untraceable/Absent.' The date of generation of the list is given as December 17. In the Vattiyoorkavu constituency, also in Thiruvananthapuram district, booth number 154 (Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom (Western portion of main building) has 347 entries in the ASD list. Of these, the number of entries in the 'EF Refused' category – where electors presumably refused to return the enumeration forms – is 116. Further, 102 voters have been listed as 'Untraceable /Absent.' The date given on the list is December 11. The ASD list has five categories - dead voters, untraceable/absent voters, permanently shifted, duplicated names and an 'others' category which includes people who decline to accept or return the enumeration forms (EF Refused). The ASD list online has a little over 24.08 lakh names in it. This includes 6.45 lakh listed as 'untraceable,' and 8.16 lakh categorised as 'permanently shifted.' The 'others' category has over 1.60 names, while deceased voters number over 6.49 lakh and duplicated names, 1.36 lakh. Under the SIR process, a little over 2.78 crore voters as on October 27, 2025, in the electoral rolls had been issued enumeration forms. However, the unusually large number of entries as 'EF Refused' and 'Untraceable' has been contested by political parties including the CPI(M), CPI, Congress and IUML. Blaming the Election Commission’s “uncalled-for haste” in proceeding with the SIR, they have demanded more time to reassess.
