Halt SIR in Tamil Nadu, DMK tells Election Commission

Chennai, Nov 10 (PTI) Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK on Monday petitioned the Chief Election Commissioner to immediately defer the SIR exercise and "conduct it in a more scientific and systematic manner" after the Assembly election in the state in 2026.

Underscoring "practical difficulties and ground realities," as regards the SIR of electoral rolls, the DMK's organisation secretary RS Bharati in a representation addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner said his party has consistently advocated a 100 per cent "purified" voters list.

"Our party welcomes any revision, including an intensive revision, to achieve this objective," Bharati said in the petition, a copy of which was submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu and released to the media.

Explaining in detail what it termed "the common doubts and confusions among the electors and the practical difficulties experienced on the ground," the DMK said it was attaching the 2002/2005 voter lists from some constituencies with English translations for reference.

The DMK said: "You will note that most lists published by the ECI on its website do not contain street names or adequate voter details to enable identification and correlation of a voter's name for filling the enumeration form. This poses a significant hindrance to the common citizen in completing the enumeration form. The difficulties faced by illiterate citizens cannot be described. This issue must be duly addressed by the ECI." From the start of the roll out of the SIR, it has opposed it, the ruling party said and listed the grounds of its opposition.

The grounds were the manner in which it was being implemented, insufficiency of time, procedural lacunae and impropriety, unpreparedness and lack of awareness among BLOs and hardships imposed on common citizens.

"If the SIR is carried out in the same fashion with all the above shortcomings, numerous eligible voters will be deleted and ineligible voters will be included. This outcome is diametrically opposed to the objectives of the ECI." Therefore, the DMK leader said the EC should immediately halt the SIR process and "conduct it in a more scientific and systematic manner." Further, the party said: "We submit that this exercise requires at least one year for proper implementation. The ECI should conduct the SIR by taking into consideration all the above practical difficulties and defer the implementation of the order dated 27.10.2025 until after the 2026 elections (in Tamil Nadu)." The difficulties explained include BLOs allegedly not having received adequate training.

"BLOs who are Anganwadi workers or school teachers can only conduct fieldwork after their working hours, i.e., after 3:30 PM," according to the DMK.

The common doubts listed in the petition include, "If a person's name or their parents' names are not traceable in the 2002/2005 voter list, what are the implications? PTI VGN VGN KH