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DMK, allies stage protest against SIR in Tamil Nadu
The DMK which has moved the Supreme Court on the case -which was heard on Tuesday- is fighting it legally besides taking the issue to the streets.
The ruling DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) who are part of the INDIA bloc went on a massive state wide protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on Tuesday even as enumeration forms as part of the of electoral rolls have been distributed to about 39.3 million voters in Tamil Nadu in the first week of the exercise.
DMK president and chief minister MK Stalin said that preventing the exercise just months ahead of the 2026 assembly elections was a huge responsibility for his party cadre. Leaders of the SPA which includes the Congress, CPI, CPI (M) and Viduthalai Chirutaigal Katchi (VCK) protested demanding the Election Commission of India (ECI) to postpone the exercise until after next year’s elections.
They raised slogans such as, “Is it the Election Commission of India or Election Commission of Modi”, and “ECI acts like a wing of the BJP”.
The DMK which has moved the Supreme Court on the case -which was heard on Tuesday- is fighting it legally besides taking the issue to the streets.
“Today, cadres from the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) hit the streets against SIR. Let us continue to act. Let us protect the voting rights of our people,” Stalin said on X.
Reacting to the protest, BJP’s state vice president Narayanan Thirupathy said, “The DMK is indulging in cheap politics over SIR. We have seen phase 1 in Bihar and there have been no objections from the BLAs Congress on SIR. So we have seen that SIR has made a transparent voters list and that’s what will happen in Tamil Nadu too.”
Data released by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Tamil Nadu on November 10 said that the enumeration forms have reached 61.34 per cent of the voters registered with the ECI.
The protests were staged across Tamil Nadu and important cities of the state including Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Thanjavur and Tiruchirappalli witnessed huge turnouts.
