DMK, allies to move SC against SIR in TN

The DMK and allies plan to challenge the electoral roll revision in the Supreme Court, claiming it threatens voting rights in Tamil Nadu.

The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its allies in Tamil Nadu will move the Supreme Court, challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls ahead of the 2026 assembly elections, Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin said on Sunday after chairing an all-party meeting on the issue.

DMK, allies to move SC against SIR in TN

Describing the exercise as “illegal”, the parties accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of acting as a “puppet” of the BJP-led Union government, and urged the election body to abandon SIR immediately.

“Since the Election Commission does not accept these views, there is no other way but to approach the Supreme Court to uphold the voting rights of all Tamil Nadu voters,” a resolution passed at the meeting said. “This all-party meeting also resolves that the political parties in Tamil Nadu will file a petition in the Supreme Court to save electoral democracy,” it added.

SIR, which began in Bihar, had become a major political flashpoint ahead of the state assembly elections. Opposition parties have staged protests in Parliament and alleged that ECI was acting at the behest of the BJP. The government has dismissed the protests and said that infiltrators cannot have the right to vote

Forty-six Tamil Nadu parties participated in Sunday’s meeting. The Opposition AIADMK and its allies the Bhatatiya Janata Party (BJP) and PMK and other non-NDA constituents such as S Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK), Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) and TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) skipped the meeting.

Stalin had earlier argued that SIR in was being carried out in Tamil Nadu to help the AIADMK-BJP alliance win the state assembly elections scheduled to be held next year. “The most important reason for our fear is what happened in the state of Bihar,” the resolution said.

Stalin had participated in a rally in Bihar along with INDIA bloc leaders, opposing SIR. The meeting added that SIR in Bihar was a conspiracy of deleting eligible voters and adding ineligible voters, with the aim of targeting and deleting minority votes and anti-BJP votes. The ECI has not responded to these charges to the people and the SC, the parties noted.

“There is no doubt that implementing the SIR scheme in 12 states, including Tamil Nadu, without rectifying any of the irregularities that occurred in Bihar, is an act of snatching away the people’s right to vote and digging a grave to completely bury democracy,” the resolution said.

When the SIR case in Bihar is pending before the Supreme Court, the ECI’s decision to proceed with the exercise in Tamil Nadu as per its October 27 notification, with only a few months left for the elections in Tamil Nadu is unacceptable, the resolution said.

Pointing out that, according to Section 169 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the electoral roll revision must be done only by publishing a formal notification in the Union Government’s Gazette, the parties said, “The SIR notification issued now is itself illegal,” the resolution said.

The all-party meeting was severely critical of the ECI. “There is no integrity in the Election Commission’s voter verification; there is no transparency,” the resolution said. “The phraseology used in that notification raises strong suspicions…We accuse the very Election Commission, which is supposed to fulfill its responsible duty, of standing and acting on behalf of one party that is in power at the Union,” it said.

On the controversy over accepting Aadhaar card for SIR, the resolution pointed out that the Supreme Court ordered that the Aadhaar should be included as the 12th document but the October 27th notification issued by the ECI that “Aadhaar will be accepted as identification with certain conditions” is unclear.

“It appears that by creating such confusion, the Election Commission is planning to remove the names of genuine voters from the list,” the resolution said. “There are no proper answers or explanations for fundamental questions like whether a voter needs to provide a document or not, and to whom it should be-provided…The Election Commission’s haste itself raises more suspicion for us.”

The state also said that there is fear a large number of voters will be deleted during the enumeration period, November 4 to December 4. It added that the Northeast monsoon in Tamil Nadu is expected to bring heavy rain and the majority of voters – the rural population such as farmers will be affected. “The Revenue Department will also have to be involved in handling situations arising from heavy rains. Therefore, this meeting opines that this period is not suitable for enumeration,” the resolution said. They also registered that it will be difficult for people to ensure they’re on the voters list, before the draft electoral roll is published which would be during the festivals of Christmas and Pongal.

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