In poll-bound TN close to 1 crore voters removed in Draft Electoral Roll; Chennai witnesses biggest drop

Close to one crore names have been deleted from the electoral roll after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in poll-bound Tamil Nadu with Chennai witnessing the biggest drop with the removal of 14.25 lakh voters.

During the SIR exercise, a total of over 97 lakh voters have been removed from the existing voter list, bringing down the strength of the electorate in TN from 6,41,14, 587 to 5,43,76,755. Despite the huge amount of deletion, Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Archana Patnaik, told the media in Chennai that this reflected the overwhelming participation in the first phase of the SIR.

Advertisement

As per the data released by the CEO, the removals included 26,94,672 listed as deceased, 66,44,881 reported as shifted and 3,39,278 found to be enrolled at multiple places. This shows that the state’s electoral roll had shrunk sharply to 5.4 core (15.2%). Among the districts, Chennai had topped the list of deletions with 14.25 lakh voters being removed from the 2025 electoral roll which had 40.04 lakh voters. All the District Election Officers in all 38 districts of the state have released the draft roll for their respective districts earlier in the day.

In Chennai, Sholinganallur and Pallavaram constituencies had the highest number of deletions, the CEO said and dismissed allegations that names of certain communities were selectively removed in a targeted manner. “No name can be arbitrarily dropped without following due procedure,” she pointed out. Among the districts which have witnessed a sharp fall in the number of voters are Coimbatore, Tirupur, Chengalpattu, and Kancheepuram.

The SIR exercise has been opposed by the ruling DMK and its allies in the INDIA Bloc as a conspiracy to disenfranchise vast sections of minorities, Dalits and the working class. However, the AIADMK and the BJP as well as the DMDK and PMK have welcomed it as a necessary corrective measure to purify the electoral roll.