SIR of Tamil Nadu voter list to begin in ‘week or so’, EC tells court hearing ex-MLA’s ‘irregularities’ case over 137-vote loss

The counsel added that the Commission had already held consultations with Chief Electoral Officers across states to ensure uniformity in the process. The submissions came during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) by former AIADMK legislator B Sathyanarayanan, who represented the T Nagar constituency between 2016 and 2021. He alleged widespread irregularities in the electoral rolls of his constituency, including deletions of  thousands of names — many of them AIADMK supporters — ahead of the 2021 elections. Sathyanarayanan lost the 2021 election to DMK’s J Karunanithi by a narrow margin of 137 votes.

“The extremely narrow margin, compared with the thousands of wrongful deletions and inclusions, clearly establishes the irregularities which materially altered the election result,” the petitioner told the court. He argued that the voter list had shown little growth over 25 years — rising from 2,08,349 voters in 1996 to 2,45,005 in 2021 — despite a significant increase in population.

Calling this “stagnant growth” a “serious legal and constitutional concern”, he sought directions to the ECI for complete re-verification of all 229 polling parts in T Nagar through booth-level officers (BLOs). The petition alleged that BLOs had prepared voter lists “without actual field visits”, allowing duplicate entries, the inclusion of non-residents and deceased voters, and wrongful deletions to persist.

Sathyanarayanan claimed he had personally verified voter data in 100 of the 229 booths, identifying numerous discrepancies. Despite submitting detailed reports to election authorities, he said, “no corrective measures were taken”, describing the inaction as “serious dereliction of duty” that undermined the integrity of the electoral process.

His petition also cited a report published in a Tamil daily that over 13,000 names of AIADMK supporters were deleted.

He further contended that the lapses violated both the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the right to vote under Article 326 of the Constitution, arguing that such failures eroded public trust in the democratic process. “Allowing such discrepancies to persist compromises the fairness of elections,” he said.

Responding to the plea, the ECI’s counsel told the court that the petitioner’s grievances would be “effectively redressed” as part of the upcoming statewide revision. He reiterated that the Commission was committed to a transparent process, following the SC’s instructions vis a vis the SIR exercise in Bihar.

The Division Bench noted the submissions and directed the ECI to place on record the Supreme Court’s order relating to the Bihar SIR case. The matter was adjourned for a week to allow the petitioner to file additional documents.

The Tamil Nadu SIR exercise will be conducted as part of the ECI’s nationwide voter roll revision ahead of a busy electoral year in 2026. The process typically involves field verification by BLOs, deletion of names of deceased and relocated voters, and inclusion of new voters.