CHENNAI: DMK legal wing secretary N R Elango said AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami’s allegation that only DMK’s booth level agents have access to enumeration forms during the SIR exercise was untrue. He also charged that the allegations made by the AIADMK and BJP were intended to divert people’s attention.
Speaking to reporters at Anna Arivalayam here on Tuesday, Elango said the AIADMK welcomed SIR without understanding the problems with it and they did it only to appease the BJP.
He said, “They (AIADMK) have started realising the issues in it only during its implementation on the grounds. Only later, AIADMK cadre had understood how the SIR was designed to take away the voting rights of the people. They were thinking that their party’s stand was wrong. Now they have started filling up the SIR enumeration forms for the voters at some places.”
Responding to Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks that the DMK did not want to rectify mistakes in the electoral rolls, he said, “Even in 2004, the then party president M Karunanidhi wrote a letter stressing the need for proper electoral rolls.
During every election, DMK leaders wrote hundreds of letters to the ECI demanding error-free electoral rolls. I have copies of all those letters. We have always emphasised the removal of names of the deceased and shifted voters, as well as ensuring that there are no duplicate entries. So, the people know why we are opposing the SIR.”
“Booth level officers are expressing the difficulties in collecting the forms and also talked about the problems in filling them up and uploading them. They are being put on the field without adequate training, and are facing the ire of the people and pressure from ECI,” he added.
Referring to the number of writ petitions filed by DMK leaders over issues in the electoral rolls, Elango further said, “The DMK has always voiced its support for fair elections but we oppose the SIR as it is being implemented improperly. The reason behind this SIR is that the election commissioners are being appointed through an amendment by excluding the SC judge from the selection committee. Following that, the BJP is now selecting the election commissioners. An ECI constituted in this manner is now conducting the SIR.”
“The ECI has now announced the revision of electoral rolls in Assam which is different from our SIR. Why this different approach to Assam? This is our question,” he added.
He also added that not a single eligible voter’s name was deleted from the 2026 electoral rolls.
“If that happens, we will approach the Supreme Court,” he declared.