Kerala SIR bombshell: BJP’s 2024 strongholds top ASD list, reviving Rahul Gandhi’s vote chori charge
A controversial claim made by BJP Kerala vice-president B Gopalakrishnan—once brushed aside as political bravado—has resurfaced with explosive relevance as Kerala’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls reveals an unprecedented spike in voters marked ASD (absent, shifted, deceased).
At a press conference where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of “vote chori,” a video clip of Gopalakrishnan was played in which he claimed the party could bring voters “even from Kashmir” to any constituency it wanted to win—and that there was nothing illegal about it.
At the time, the BJP dismissed the remark as rhetorical exaggeration. Months later, the SIR data tell a far more unsettling story.
Across Kerala, Assembly segments where the BJP finished first or second in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections show disproportionately high ASD figures, triggering allegations from both the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) that voter enrolment—not voting—may have become the new battlefield of electoral manipulation.
Nowhere is this pattern sharper than in Thiruvananthapuram, the BJP’s strongest parliamentary showing in the state. Assembly segments such as Thiruvananthapuram, Nemom, Vattiyoorkavu and Kazhakkoottam—targets of intense BJP mobilisation ahead of 2024—have recorded some of Kerala’s highest concentrations of untraceable voters.
Booth-level officers report non-existent addresses, vacant flats, and residents denying any knowledge of listed voters, with ASD rates crossing 25 per cent in several polling areas.
The trend repeats in Thrissur, where the BJP won its only Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. Under the SIR, 2.56 lakh voters in the district have been flagged or removed. In Booth No 29 alone, 334 voters were found untraceable—a booth where BJP MP Suresh Gopi had secured a decisive lead of over 500 votes in 2024.
Palakkad presents an even starker picture. In several BJP-leaning booths, 50–65 per cent of voters were initially marked untraceable. Despite partial restoration after re-verification, over two lakh voters in the district remain under deletion or doubt categories.
Statewide figures underline the scale of the issue: Thiruvananthapuram tops the list with 4.36 lakh flagged voters, followed by Ernakulam (3.34 lakh), with Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, and Kollam each crossing the one-lakh mark. More than 16 lakh names across Kerala remain questionable even after follow-up verification.
LDF leaders argue the revelations vindicate their long-standing charge. “This is not just an SIR issue. The manipulation was visible even during local body elections,” said former minister V S Sunilkumar, pointing out that the BJP’s Lok Sabha surge in Thrissur collapsed in the subsequent LSG polls.
Labour Minister V Sivankutty accused the BJP of attempting to replicate the “Thrissur model” in Thiruvananthapuram, alleging strategic voter relocation through rented accommodations and mass enrolments.
The BJP, however, has rejected the allegations, with Gopalakrishnan citing the party’s improved local body tally as proof of public support.
The Election Commission maintains that the SIR is a neutral exercise aimed at cleaning electoral rolls. Yet, the concentration of deletions in politically sensitive constituencies has reopened a larger debate: has electoral manipulation shifted from polling booths to voter databases?
Against this backdrop, Gopalakrishnan’s once-casual remark no longer sounds hypothetical. As revised rolls are published and scrutiny intensifies, what began as a technical correction risks becoming Kerala’s most serious electoral credibility crisis in years.