A major political confrontation has erupted in Tamil Nadu after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with the ruling DMK and its allies alleging a “conspiracy to snatch away the voting rights of the people” and the BJP accusing the opposition of “appalling double standards.”
The controversy intensified hours after the ECI’s announcement, which covers 12 states including the poll-bound Tamil Nadu. The DMK-led alliance, in a strongly worded resolution, called for an all-party meeting on 2 November 2025 to decide its next course of action.
DMK’s Allegations of a “Bihar Model” and Disenfranchisement
In a strongly worded resolution, the DMK-led alliance, headed by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, described the SIR exercise as a “conspiracy to snatch away the voting rights of the people of Tamil Nadu.” It drew parallels with the large-scale voter deletions reported in Bihar earlier this year.
Citing what it termed “credible information” that several lakh voters were removed in Bihar and that only a fraction were later restored, the DMK said the deletions had disproportionately affected Muslims, Dalits, and women. It expressed concern that a similar pattern could unfold in Tamil Nadu under the pretext of voter list correction.
The resolution also referred to the Supreme Court’s recent directive to the Election Commission to accept Aadhaar as a valid proof to safeguard genuine voters – an order the DMK accused the EC of not implementing. “Why is the Election Commission refusing to accept Aadhaar as a complete document? Why not accept our demand to include family cards?” the party asked, calling the poll body’s approach “controversial and suspicious.”
The alliance clarified that it was not opposed to voter list revisions in principle but objected to the timing and methodology. Conducting such an extensive exercise during the northeast monsoon months of November and December, it said, was “impractical and ill-conceived,” likely to cause hardship to lakhs of voters asked to affix photos and attach downloaded copies of old electoral rolls.
“Under the guise of SIR, we fear a repeat of the Bihar model of voter deletions. Tamil Nadu will not allow this,” the statement declared, urging political parties to unite against what it called an “undemocratic move.”
Echoing this on social media, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wrote, “#SIR in Tamil Nadu: We will resist disenfranchisement and defeat #VoteTheft.
To carry out Special Intensive Revision just months before the election, and especially during the monsoon months of November and December, brings serious practical difficulties. To conduct SIR in a hasty and opaque manner is nothing but a conspiracy by the ECI to rob citizens of their rights and help the BJP.
In Bihar, large numbers of women, minorities and people from SC and ST communities were removed from the electoral rolls, and the absence of transparency has fuelled serious suspicion in the public mind.
Now the ECI has announced that #SIR will begin in Tamil Nadu from next week. Following the announcement, we held discussions with our alliance partners, and on that basis an all party meeting will be convened on 2 November to decide the next course of action.
The right to vote is the foundation of democracy. Tamil Nadu will fight against any attempt to murder it, and Tamil Nadu will win.”
BJP’s Rebuttal: “Hollow Understanding” and “Selective Amnesia”
BJP state president K. Annamalai issued a sharp rebuttal, calling Stalin’s stance “appalling double standards.”
“The Intensive revisions of electoral rolls, in all or some parts of the country, have been undertaken 12 times earlier… Clearly, this is not the first time,” Annamalai stated.
He dismissed the DMK’s reliance on the Bihar example, saying, “We request that Thiru Stalin avl not rely on the imagination of Thiru Tejashwi Yadav on the deletion of electoral rolls of a certain section of people in Bihar.”
In a detailed counter, the BJP leader highlighted the DMK’s own past demands for rigorous voter list revisions. He pointed to the party’s 2016 claim of 57.43 lakh “bogus voters” in the state, its 2017 petition to the Madras High Court for voter list revision ahead of the RK Nagar bypoll, and its formal representation to the Election Commission requesting Aadhaar linking and door-to-door checks.
“Thiru MK Stalin, have you forgotten the time when you sought the intervention of the Hon Madras High Court for the revision of electoral rolls?” Annamalai asked. “The sanctity of democracy rests on the integrity of the electoral roll, and one hopes that the DMK rediscovers this wisdom, sparing the state another episode of selective amnesia.”
Meanwhile, the AIADMK, now re-allied with the BJP, welcomed the ECI’s move, urging it to be carried out “in an orderly and transparent manner,” and accused the DMK of “preparing excuses in advance for its defeat in the 2026 elections.”
Separately, the DMK organised a workshop in Mamallapuram for more than 3,000 poll functionaries on Monday, addressed by Chief Minister Stalin, to strategise ahead of the SIR and the 2026 elections.
(Source: NDTV)
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