SIR in Tamil Nadu | Final voters list out in poll-bound state, 74 lakh names deleted

Chennai: The total number of voters in Tamil Nadu stands at 5.67 crore at the end of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a drop of about 74 lakh voters or 11.51 per cent from the 6.41 crore who found their names when the exercise began in November last year.

When the Draft Electoral Rolls were released on December 19, names of a whooping 97.37 lakh were dropped. Of the 5.67 crore voters in the fresh list, women have outnumbered men once again – while the number of men voters are 2.77 crore, 2.89 crore are women. As many as 12.51 lakh voters are new voters, while 4.63 lakh are Persons with Disabilities and 3.99 lakh are above 85 years of age.

Shozhinganallur constituency on the outskirts of Chennai has the highest number of voters at 5.36 lakh followed by Avadi in near-by Tiruvallur district with 4.28 lakh voters. The lowest number of voters are in Harbour in Chennai with 1.16 lakh voters followed by Egmore with 1.34 lakh voters.

Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik said that after the claims and objections period concluded on January 30, 2026, 27.53 lakh voters were added to the rolls while 4.23 lakh names were deleted.

With the electoral rolls of ten of 12 states and UTs that underwent SIR is out, the total number of deletions have risen to 2,44,35,721 or 8.76% of 27,86,76,802 voters at the of SIR on 27 October, 2026. Now, the total number of voters in ten states have come down to 25,42,41,081.

SIR in Tamil Nadu was a smooth affair with no political party, including the DMK, opposing the exercise vociferously though the ruling party questioned the timing of its conduct.

DH’s field visit in November showed that the DMK was well-prepared with its trained booth agents and ground-level campaign; the AIADMK, though active on the ground, does not seem as ready for SIR. DMK BLAs were present in every booth DH visited, but that was not the case with their AIADMK counterparts.

The DMK has upped the game and began preparations long ago to ward off challenges not just from AIADMK but also from new players like Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) of actor Vijay, who is popular among young voters.

Stalin himself called DMK BLAs randomly and seeking updates from them on the exercise, attaching utmost importance despite the party challenging SIR legally and politically.

The DMK has also involved about 4,500 advocates from its legal wing to handle complaints during SIR on the ground and redress them.