Chennai: More than 1,03,812 voters have been removed from Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s Kolathur constituency, marking one of the biggest single reductions in the state-wide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Tamil Nadu.
The draft voter list released following the revision exercise indicates a sweeping purge of invalid, duplicated or outdated entries, signalling one of the most extensive clean-ups ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Prior to the SIR verification, Tamil Nadu had 6,41,14,587 voters on record as of October 27.
Following the verification, the number now stands at 5,43,76,755, reflecting a substantial reduction of 97,37,831 names from the rolls. Election authorities attribute the drop to the identification of deceased individuals, migrated voters, and duplicate registrations.
According to the draft roll, the state now has 2,77,06,332 women, 2,66,63,233 men, 7,191 transgender voters and 4,19,355 voters with disabilities on the register.
The SIR breakdown reveals that 26,94,672 entries were removed due to deaths, 66,44,881 due to migration, and 3,39,278 were classified as duplicate registrations.
Officials claim that stricter verification procedures, including digital cross-checking and field verification, contributed to the scale of the deletions.
Kolathur, long regarded as a stronghold for the Chief Minister, witnessed a reduction of 35.71 per cent of its earlier voter count. The constituency now has 1,86,841 registered voters in the newly published draft list.
The revisions also significantly impacted key political figures’ constituencies.
In Edappadi constituency, represented by AIADMK general secretary and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami, 26,375 voters were removed, leaving a revised total of 2,67,374 voters.
Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Chepauk-Triplicane constituency recorded 89,241 deletions, reducing the tally from 2,40,087 to 1,50,846.
BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran’s Tirunelveli constituency witnessed 42,119 deletions, resulting in a total of 2,63,685 voters in the draft roll.
The scale of the deletions is expected to trigger political scrutiny and public claims and objections in the coming weeks. With the draft roll now in the public domain, political parties are likely to assess constituency-level impacts and recalibrate strategies as Tamil Nadu heads into an intense election cycle.
(IANS)
