Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin and 44 parties resolved to move the Supreme Court against the Election Commission’s voter roll revision, calling the SIR “anti-democratic.”
Stalin leads multi party meeting to oppose SIR, to reach SC calling the EC move as anti-democratic (Image: X/@mkstalin)
Chennai: With the Election Commission all set to kick start the special intensive revision of voter rolls in Tamil Nadu in second phase, Chief Minister MK Stalin chaired a multi patty meeting and decided to move the Supreme Court against the exercise calling it “anti-democratic” and warning that it risked disenfranchising voters ahead of the 2026 Assembly election.
A total of 44 political parties attended the meeting, including the DMDK of late actor-politician Vijayakanth, which is not part of any alliance. The AIADMK and the BJP were not invited. Actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), S Ramadoss’s PMK, and the AMMK of TTV Dhinakaran despite invited chose not to attend.
In a detailed statement, it said that the Election Commission must put a "stop to the anti-democratic - illegal SIR" attempts.
"Otherwise, all parties will file a case in the Supreme Court. Resolution at the all-party meeting held under the leadership of the Chief Minister and DMK President Stalin.
It stated that while the Bihar SIR case is pending in the Supreme Court, especially at a time when the final judgment in that case has not been delivered, and with only a few months left for the elections in Tamil Nadu, the poll is bringing the SIR is unacceptable.
"This meeting strongly condemns the Commission for acting as a puppet of the Union Government and with an authoritarian tendency, despite most political parties in the country opposing this SIR from the very beginning," it said, adding that the most important reason for our fear is what happened in Bihar.
"This activity was carried out in Bihar with the conspiracy of deleting eligible voters and adding ineligible voters, with the aim of targeting and deleting minority votes and anti-BJP votes," it alleged.
"The Election Commission of India has not given any answer regarding this to the people's forum or the Supreme Court. The Election Commission is functioning as a puppet of the Union BJP. There is no doubt that implementing the SIR scheme in 12 states, including Tamil Nadu, without rectifying any of the irregularities that occurred in Bihar, is an act of snatching away the people's right to vote and digging a grave to completely bury democracy," it said.
It also asserted that as per Section 169 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the electoral roll revision SIR must be done only by publishing a formal notification in the Union Government's Gazette.
Taking a swipe at the poll panel, it also said, "The Election Commission unilaterally issuing the notification without following that procedure is against the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act. The SIR notification issued now is itself illegal. Even though the Supreme Court ordered that the Aadhaar card should be included as the 12th document, the notification dated October 27 issued by the Election Commission now mentions Aadhaar in an unclear manner. There is no integrity in the Election Commission's voter verification; there is no transparency."
"The phraseology used in that notification raises strong suspicions. The Election Commission's stance is that 'Aadhaar will be accepted as identification with certain conditions'. In the same notification, the statement 'No document is to be collected from electors during the Enumeration Phase' is also confusing to the voters. On the one hand, they have said, 'No documents should be collected',", it added.
The statement also highlighted that they have also mentioned that "documents related to the voter's date of birth must be given to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) when he asks for them."
"When will they ask? In what form will the notice be given and who will give it? In what form should the documents be given? How many days will be given to submit the document? To whom should it be given? There are no answers to these questions. This shows the confusion created by the Election Commission," it said, adding, "It appears that by creating such confusion, the Election Commission is planning to remove the names of genuine voters from the list. There are no proper answers or explanations for fundamental questions like whether a voter needs to provide a document or not, and to whom it should be-provided. This confusion will only be used to remove eligible voters."
Taking a swipe, it also said that the Election Commission's haste itself raises more suspicion for us.
The period fixed as the Enumeration period, from Novwmber 4 to December 4, is the peak period of the Northeast monsoon in Tamil Nadu and heavy rain and bad weather are expected during this time, it said.
It further said that since the majority of voters in Tamil Nadu are rural people - farmers, they will not have time to receive, fill, and return the Enumeration Forms.
"There is a reasonable fear that a large number of voters will be deleted in this process. The Revenue Department will also have to be involved in handling situations arising from heavy rains. Therefore, this meeting opines that this period is not suitable for Enumeration," it said opposing the SIR exercise.
It also said that this meeting wishes to register its fear that in the period before the draft electoral roll is published, there are the Christmas festival and the Pongal festival. Because of this, voters who are left out of the electoral roll preparation process or voters who wish to be included will face great difficulty and a situation will arise where they lose their voting rights. The task of preparing the electoral roll is very important for a fair and honest election; it is considered the lifeblood of parliamentary democracy.
The Constitution and the Representation of the People Act have given power to the Election Commission for this very purpose. The Election Commission must function as an independent body with impartiality, without bias, and without favoring any political party. The Constitution has entrusted the Election Commission with the very important duty of providing a Level Playing Field for all parties in the election. But we accuse the very Election Commission, which is supposed to fulfill its responsible duty, of standing and acting on behalf of one party that is in power at the Union. While the final judgment in the S.I.R. case in the Supreme Court has not yet come, the Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls (S.I.R.) that has been announced to be conducted in Tamil Nadu as per its 27-10-2025 notification is a completely anti-democratic act against the voting rights of the people of Tamil Nadu. Therefore, this S.I.R. is not acceptable. Hence, this meeting of all parties requests the Election Commission to abandon this S.I.R. revision now.
"The shortcomings in the Election Commission's notification must be rectified, the Supreme Court's guidelines must be openly followed, adequate time must be given, and only after the 2026 elections should the Election Commission conduct the SIR in an unbiased manner towards any party," it added.
"Since the Election Commission does not accept these views, there is no other way but to approach the Supreme Court to uphold the voting rights of all Tamil Nadu voters," it said, adding, "This all-party meeting also resolves that the political parties in Tamil Nadu will file a petition in the Supreme Court to save electoral democracy."
