A representative image of the Election Commission (EC) members.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: Names of a whooping 97.37 lakh voters have been dropped in the draft electoral rolls at the end of the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Tamil Nadu.
Of this, 66.40 lakh voters have shifted their residences, 26.90 lakh are dead and 3.98 lakh have enrolled at multiple places, according to the data released by the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu.
As expected, women outnumbered men in the number of voters in the draft list as well with 2.66 crore men voters and 2.77 crore women voters. The number of third gender voters is 7,191.
The total number of voters as per draft rolls is 5,43,76,755 as against 6,41,14587 voters when the SIR began on November 4.
Chennai recorded the highest drop of around 35 per cent with names of about 14.25 lakh voters not figuring in the draft electoral rolls. A total of 14,25,018 voter names have been removed from Chennai alone due to reasons such as death, relocation, duplication, and absence.
CEO Archana Patnaik said printed and digital booth-wise copies have been provided to all recognised political parties and made available on the official website.
Booth-wise lists of Absent/Shifted/Death/Duplicate electors whose names are not included in the Draft Roll, shall also be displayed on the notice board of respective local offices and also these lists will be published on DEO/CEO's website in an accessible format, the CEO added.
During the claims and objections period from December 19 to January 18, 2026, any elector or political party may file claims or objections for inclusion of eligible electors or deletion of ineligible names. “A total of 234 EROs and 1776 AEROs are in position to scrutinise such cases, as on 19.12.2025,” the CEO said.
“No name can be deleted from the draft roll published on 16th December without notice and a speaking order by the ERO/AERO. Any aggrieved elector may appeal to the District Magistrate and thereafter to the Chief Electoral Officer under Section 24 of the RP Act, 1950,” the CEO added.
Officials and party BLAs said most of the people whose names didn’t figure in the draft rolls due to shifting are likely to enroll as voters by January by either filing petitions or getting enrolled as fresh voters. The CEO said special camps will also be held to enroll fresh voters during the period.
Opposition Leader Edappadi K Palaniswami welcomed the “deletion” of the names saying the AIADMK has been supporting the SIR exercise since the beginning as it knew that the DMK was gaining due to “fake voters.” The DMK though didn’t issue any official statement said it was prepared for the exercise by asking its BLAs to scrutinize the draft rolls and take steps to include names of people who have been left out.