Vaiko raises concerns over removal of 97 lakh voters from TN electoral roll

Chennai, Dec 20 MDMK general secretary Vaiko has expressed serious reservations over the removal of nearly 97 lakh names from the Tamil Nadu voter list, stating that the scale of deletions raises troubling questions about transparency and due process.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Vaiko said the Election Commission has completed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, and the draft voter list was published on December 19. Based on the final enumeration under SIR, a total of 97.38 lakh voters were removed from the list.

According to the Election Commission, the special revision began on October 27. During the first phase, SIR forms were distributed door-to-door, and polling officials were tasked with conducting a minimum of three rounds of household verification.

The Commission reported that before the SIR census, the total number of voters in Tamil Nadu was 6,41,14,587. The newly released draft list now shows 5,43,76,755 voters—indicating a decrease of 97,37,831 names.

Breaking down the deletions, the Commission has stated that 26,94,672 names belonged to deceased voters, 66,44,881 were those who had migrated or whose addresses were untraceable, and 3,39,278 were duplicate registrations across multiple constituencies.

However, Vaiko argued that such a large-scale removal, particularly the deletion of 66.44 lakh voters due to migration or missing addresses, is alarming and warrants scrutiny.

He added that his party, along with the DMK and allied groups, had earlier warned about the possibility of irregularities in an intensive revision process—citing the example of Bihar, where questions had also been raised regarding large voter roll deletions.

Vaiko recalled that a petition challenging the SIR process had already been filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of the DMK and its revival faction, anticipating potential discrepancies.

The MDMK leader urged citizens to verify their names in the draft electoral roll without delay. Those whose names are missing should immediately submit Form 6 for inclusion, he said, while objections should be filed using Form 7 and address changes through Form 8. All corrections and additions must be submitted to booth-level officials by January 18.

He further asserted that the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance is capable of taking on the Election Commission in the electoral arena, if required.

Vaiko called on volunteers and polling agents of the alliance—particularly the Revival DMK—to conduct field surveys at every polling station to identify voters who may have been wrongly removed. He stressed that safeguarding voter rights and ensuring fair representation should be the highest priority for democratic forces in the state.

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