Over 97 Lakh Names Deleted from Tamil Nadu Voter Rolls After Special Intensive Revision

Tamil Nadu's Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik announced that the draft electoral roll, following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), now lists 5,43,76,755 voters in the state, including approximately 2.66 crore women and 2.77 crore men.

Prior to the revision, Tamil Nadu had around 6.41 crore registered voters. The intensive exercise resulted in the removal of 97,37,832 names from the rolls.

Patnaik explained that the deletions comprised 26.94 lakh entries of deceased voters, 66.44 lakh individuals who had permanently shifted residences, and 3,39,278 duplicate registrations where people were enrolled at multiple locations.

She further noted that the 66,44,881 persons classified as migrated were confirmed not to be residing at their registered addresses after three rounds of statewide door-to-door verification.

The SIR in the DMK-governed state proceeded despite strong protests from Chief Minister MK Stalin, whose party even approached the Supreme Court challenging the extensive revision drive.

Stalin condemned the Election Commission's decision to undertake a comprehensive overhaul of the voter list mere months before the assembly elections, calling it a "deliberate strategy to disenfranchise legitimate voters." He referenced an all-party meeting that passed a resolution denouncing the process and alleged similar tactics were employed in Bihar to remove genuine voters.

The Chief Minister criticised the lack of adequate response from the EC even after legal challenges and accused AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami of duplicity, suggesting fear of the EC due to alleged BJP connections. Stalin also highlighted how Tamil Nadu provides livelihood and dignity to migrant workers from Bihar, contrasting it with what he termed political manoeuvring by the Prime Minister.

Similar revisions have drawn attention elsewhere. In West Bengal, the Election Commission recently released a draft list of deleted voters post the first phase of SIR, which concluded on December 11. The second phase, involving claims and objections, commenced after December 16.

The issue featured prominently in Parliament's Winter Session, where leaders like Rajya Sabha Leader JP Nadda urged bipartisan support for the SIR, citing unusually high voter growth in West Bengal since the last major revision in 2002—from 4.8 crore to 7.6 crore electors. Nadda highlighted sharp increases in border districts with Bangladesh, ranging from 70 per cent to over 105 per cent.

The Special Intensive Revision is a periodic exercise by the Election Commission of India to purify electoral rolls ahead of polls. Conducted under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, it involves house-to-house checks to eliminate ineligible entries, update details, and add new voters, ensuring the lists remain accurate and reflective of current realities.

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