ECI Deletes 97 Lakh Voters in Tamil Nadu Draft Roll Post-SIR: 5.44 Crore Remain Amid DMK Protests
More than 97 lakh names of voters have been removed from Tamil Nadu's draft electoral roll which was released on Friday after the Special Intensive Revision. The names of voters have been removed for various reasons such as migration, death, duplication, etc.
Aadrika Tayal 
New Delhi (India) December 19: On Friday (December 19, 2025), after the completion of the highly controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has made public the draft electoral roll of voters in Tamil Nadu.
Draft Roll Released After Controversial SIR
According to Archana Patnaik, the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu, the names of over 97.37 lakh voters have been removed from the electoral rolls due to reasons like death, shifting, absenteeism, duplication, and non-submission of SIR enumeration forms.
The draft electoral rolls of Tamil Nadu after these removals have the names of 5,43,76,756 voters among which 2,66,63,233 are the names of men, 2,77,06,332 women and 7,191 persons of the third gender. It is 97,37,831 voters less than the total number of 6,41,14,587 voters as on October 27, 2025.
How to Add Your Name if Missing?
In case your name is not listed in the published draft electoral roll, you will need to complete and submit Form 6. Along with Form 6, documents for proof of age and residence, and a recent passport-size photograph will also need to be submitted. The application may be submitted online (through ECI's website at voters.eci.gov.in or ECINET app) or a local BLO can be approached for the same.
Also, there will be special camps for this work which will be held on the dates to be announced later.
DMK's Fierce Opposition to SIR
The SIR in the DMK-ruled state was completed despite the hard resistance of the chief minister M.K. Stalin, whose party approached the Supreme Court with a petition against the large-scale revision of the roll in the south state.
“To prevent this anti-democratic move, we convened an all-party meeting and passed a resolution condemning the SIR. The Election Commission’s decision to carry out a full revision of the electoral roll just months before the election is part of a well-planned strategy to delete legitimate voters,” Stalin said.
SIR Timeline and Extension in Tamil Nadu
On October 27, the ECI made public the decision to hold a second phase of the Special Intensive Revision in 12 States and Union Territories, such as poll-bound Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, and Puducherry, covering almost 51 crore voters. The first phase of the operation was in Bihar.
It appears that in Tamil Nadu the door-to-door verification which was supposed to be held for 30 days from November 4 to December 4 was extended twice — first by a week till December 11 and again by three days till December 14.
Purpose of ECI's Special Intensive Revision
To maintain up-to-date and complete voter lists before significant elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) performs the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. This operation is an elaborate door-to-door verification to find and eliminate duplicate, changed, or deceased entries and to register new and first-time voters.
The SIR, which is performed under the Representation of the People Act 1950, is intended to preserve the fidelity of the electoral rolls by revising demographic details and making the necessary corrections.
