Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M.K. An all-party meeting was held in Chennai on 2 November under the chairmanship of Stalin. In which the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list declared by the Election Commission of India was discussed. Today’s all-party consultation meeting was attended by representatives of 46 political parties and organizations including Congress, VCK and Makkal Needhi Maiam.
Leaders of political parties participating in the meeting recorded their views. A resolution has been passed in the all-party meeting that a case will be filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of the political parties of Tamil Nadu to save electoral democracy. It was said that when the case related to the SIR done in Bihar is pending in the Supreme Court, then why has the Election Commission announced the SIR a few months before the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
A statement was issued on the views expressed by the representatives of various parties in the all-party meeting, the main points in it are as follows:
This meeting strongly condemns the Election Commission for being a puppet of the Central Government and its dictatorial attitude, especially in an environment when most of the political parties in the country have been opposing the SIR from the very beginning.
In Bihar, this action has been taken with the aim of targeting and eliminating minority votes and opposition votes of BJP. Under a conspiracy to remove eligible voters and add ineligible voters. The Election Commission of India has not given any response to the public or the Supreme Court in this regard.
There is no doubt that implementing SIR in 12 states including Tamil Nadu without correcting any irregularities in Bihar is a violation of people’s voting rights and is completely weakening democracy.
According to Section 169 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, amendment in the electoral roll must be done through a formal notification in the Central Gazette. Without following this, publishing the notification arbitrarily by the Election Commission is against the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act. This SIR notification is illegal in itself. There is a fear of disenfranchising a large number of voters due to this.
December is the rainy season in Tamil Nadu. Therefore, this meeting believes that this is not an appropriate time for calculations. The period before the draft publication of the voter list is marked by festivals like Christmas and Pongal. Due to this, voters who are left out of the process of preparing the voter list or who want to join it, will have to face a lot of difficulties and will lose their franchise.
The work of preparing voter list is very important for fair and honest elections. It is considered the lifeline of parliamentary democracy. The Constitution and the Representation of the People Act have given powers to the Election Commission for this work.
The Election Commission should function as an independent, impartial and impartial body, with no involvement of any political party. The Constitution has entrusted the Election Commission with the very important responsibility of providing equal opportunities to all parties in elections.
In the absence of a final verdict in the SIR case in the Supreme Court, the announcement of special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu is a completely undemocratic act which is against the voting rights of the people of Tamil Nadu. This SIR is unacceptable. Therefore, the meeting of all parties requests the Election Commission to abandon this SIR.
The statement said leaders of various parties and organizations who participated in today’s meeting said that the Election Commission should conduct the SIR in an independent manner after the 2026 elections, after plugging the shortcomings in the Election Commission’s announcement, openly following the Supreme Court guidelines.
Election Commission announced SIR: The Election Commission announced the second phase of SIR on 27 October. Under this, the SIR process has started in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep. The Election Commission says that this is a routine process. Under this, the voter list is updated. Those names included in the voter list which are not eligible are removed. During this process in Bihar, the opposition had created a lot of ruckus.
