The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday published the final voter roll for Tamil Nadu after the months-long Special Intensive Revision (SIR), excising nearly one in 10 names from the electorate of the southern state that goes to the polls this summer.
Chief electoral officer Archana Patnaik said that the final voter roll comprised 56.71 million people, roughly 11.6% less than the pre-SIR strength of 64.11 million. Urban districts saw the maximum share of deletions with state capital Chennai leading the pack with nearly a third of its electorate excised.
“Following the SIR, the final electoral roll now comprises approximately 56.71 million voters, with a significant number of ineligible names removed to enhance the accuracy of the list. We urge all electors to verify their details and use the ongoing continuous updation process to ensure their inclusion ahead of the elections,” Patnaik said.
On October 27, before SIR began, Tamil Nadu had 64.11 million electors. This decreased 15.2% to 54.38 million in the draft roll published on December 19. The final roll showed that 2.75 million names were added in the claims and objections phase, and around 423,000 removed, leading to a net addition of 2.33 million between the draft and final rolls. Tamil Nadu was one of 12 states and Union Territories where the SIR began last November, covering roughly half of India’s nearly one billion-strong electorate in an exercise that has already become a political flashpoint.
The current SIR marks the ninth such revision of electoral rolls since Independence, with the last conducted between 2002 and 2004. The controversial exercise was conducted in Bihar in July, when the number of deletions stood at 6.9 million names and the number of additions at 2.15 million. Among the 10 states and UTs where SIR started on November 4 and has been completed – only Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are left – Tamil Nadu’s 15.2% deletions at the draft stage was the highest after Andaman and Nicobar Islands. However, the net 4.3% addition in the state after the draft roll is also very high – just lower than the 5.9% addition seen in Kerala, and 4.7% addition seen in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Tamil Nadu is now ranked fourth in terms of net deletions in the final roll compared to the pre-SIR roll -- after Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh.
{{/usCountry}}The current SIR marks the ninth such revision of electoral rolls since Independence, with the last conducted between 2002 and 2004. The controversial exercise was conducted in Bihar in July, when the number of deletions stood at 6.9 million names and the number of additions at 2.15 million. Among the 10 states and UTs where SIR started on November 4 and has been completed – only Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are left – Tamil Nadu’s 15.2% deletions at the draft stage was the highest after Andaman and Nicobar Islands. However, the net 4.3% addition in the state after the draft roll is also very high – just lower than the 5.9% addition seen in Kerala, and 4.7% addition seen in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Tamil Nadu is now ranked fourth in terms of net deletions in the final roll compared to the pre-SIR roll -- after Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh.
{{/usCountry}}District-wise data showed that broad trends at the district-level did not change much since the draft roll, with more urban districts seeing higher deletions even in the final roll, with minor changes in their relative positions.
The top five districts with the highest deletions were Chennai, Ramanathapuram, Tiruppur, Chengalpattu, and Coimbatore. They saw 29.3%, 23.7%, 20%, 18.9%, and 16.4% deletions, respectively. These five districts had the highest deletions at the draft stage, too; but Chengalpattu was ranked higher than Tiruppur at that stage.
The five districts with the lowest deletions were Madurai, Ariyalur, Dharmapuri, Virudhunagar, and Kallakurichi, with 0.8%, 1.5%, 3.5%, 3.6%, and 4.4% deletions respectively. Madurai and Ariyalur have exchanged places since the draft stage and so have Virudhunagar and Kallakurichi.
The final roll showed women continuing to outnumber men 28.96 million women (51%) compared to 27.74 million men (49%), with 8,000 third-gender voters registered. Tamil Nadu now has 1.25 million first-time voters aged 18–19 (2.2%), 0.46 million persons with disabilities (0.8%), and 0.40 million voters aged 85 and above (0.7%). In absolute numbers, Sholinganallur (Chengalpattu) tops the state with 540,000 voters, followed by Avadi (Thiruvallur) at 430,000. Chennai seats such as Harbour (120,000) and Egmore (130,000) remain among the smallest.