In the three districts of Kerala, where the absolute voter turnout rose after the special intensive review of electoral rolls, turnout on Thursday showed a jump in two of them while it remained stagnant in the other district.
Kasaragod, Kannur and Malappuram were the only districts in Kerala where the absolute number of voters showed a jump after the SIR. In the rest of the 11 districts, the number of voters recorded a decrease.
The number of voters in the draft list for October 2025 reached 2,78,50,855 voters. It fell to 2,69,53,644 after the SIR exercise, a decline of 8.97 lakh voters. The highest decline was in Thiruvananthapuram district with 3.21 lakh followed by Ernakulam with 1.83 lakh and Kottayam with 1.12 lakh.
The highest rise in voters after SIR was in Malappuram district where the number of voters reached 2.02 lakh. The increase in Kannur and Kasaragod districts was 47,242 voters and 17,895 voters respectively.
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Thursday saw a 4% rise in overall turnout in the state compared to the 2021 House of Representatives elections, a trend largely attributed to the cleaning of electoral rolls as part of the SIR system. The turnout this time was 78.27%, according to the latest update by the Election Commission of India (ECI). However, it is still short of the 85% polling target set by the Election Commission of India.
ECI figures show that of the 32 assembly constituencies across Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod, where voter turnout rose post SIR, 27 recorded a rise in turnout ranging between 1% to 10%.
Of the 27 constituencies, 22 recorded an increase in participation by at least 3%. The highest jump was in Vengara (10%) in Malappuram district. All constituencies in Malappuram and Kasaragod districts recorded a jump in voter participation. In Manjeshwar and Kasaragod, the only two constituencies that witnessed a tripartite contest in the district, the increase in polling was 4% and 9%, respectively. The BJP has high stakes in both seats.
Figures show that voter participation rose in all 16 constituencies in Malappuram, the stronghold of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), compared to the 2021 elections. Last time, the IUML won 11 of the 12 seats it contested in the district while its ally Congress won one seat.
Meanwhile, turnout remained largely stagnant in Kannur district. Of the 11 constituencies here, the turnout this time compared to 2021 remained the same in four of them while it decreased in one seat – Irkur. Six seats recorded a marginal increase, ranging from 1% to 3%. The slowdown in voting behavior may be a cause for concern for the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) which treats Kannur district as its stronghold in the state. In the 2021 elections, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the Communist Party (Maoist) won 9 out of 11 seats.
