Even as the DMK government has opposed the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, the Election Commission on Friday told the Madras High Court that the exercise would commence in the state in a week.
The poll panel made this submission before a Division Bench of Chief Justice M M Srivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, which was hearing a petition by former AIADMK legislator B Satyanarayana, seeking a complete and transparent reverification of the 229 booths in Theyagaraya Nagar assembly constituency in Chennai.
He sought a direction to the EC to this effect as he had lost the last election in 2021 by a wafer-thin margin of 137 votes to the DMK candidate.
Standing counsel for EC, Niranjan Rajagopal, appearing before the Bench, submitted that the petitioner’s grievance would be addressed as the SIR for Tamil Nadu would commence in a week.
Recording the submission, the Bench posted the matter for next week.
In his petition, the former MLA alleged that there was a systematic mass deletion of genuine voters due to failure in maintaining the electoral rolls. He also submitted that his door to door verification of 109 booths revealed duplicate double entries as well as inclusion of non- residents and deceased voters. Even the reports of BLOs were prepared without field visits, he alleged.
For the ruling DMK and its allies, the EC beginning the SIR exercise in a week’s time, would be a bolt from the blue. The DMK has described it as an attempt to alter the political demography by including migrant workers from north India.