CHENNAI: Suspecting a 'conspiracy' in the move to carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin, along with leaders of allies, appealed to leaders of all political parties to attend an all-party meeting in Chennai on November 2.
The appeal came after a consultative meeting of the Secular Progressive Alliance leaders held at Anna Arivalayam on Monday, following the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) announcement that the next phase of the SIR will be held in nine states including Tamil Nadu.
In a joint statement, the leaders urged all political parties to participate in the all-party meeting, setting aside political differences.
They charged that the BJP-led Union government was relentlessly destroying democratic values and misusing independent institutions at its will. They said the functioning of the ECI was not only controversial but also doubtful.
Citing the SIR carried out in Bihar, they said, “We witnessed that the SIR in Bihar was actually a plot to remove genuine voters from the list. The ECI did not even follow the Supreme Court’s directions. The BJP government was instigating the ECI to carry out this anti-democratic activity.”
The leaders also pointed out that conducting the SIR in Tamil Nadu during the monsoon months of November and December would be very difficult and practically impossible and that the procedures announced by the ECI would cause hardship to a large section of the population.
They also questioned why the Aadhaar card was not accepted under the SIR even after the Supreme Court’s verdict, and why the ration card was not accepted despite their repeated demands.
While acknowledging the need to revise the electoral rolls, they argued that the process should not be carried out in haste.
“When the Assembly election is due in April, announcing the SIR now is unfair. We suspect a conspiracy to snatch away the rights of the people of Tamil Nadu. In Bihar, Muslims, Scheduled Caste communities, and women were targeted for name removal. Tamil Nadu will never allow such a plot and the state will unite in opposition,” they stated.
Meanwhile in his post on X, Stalin said “The right to vote is the foundation of democracy. Tamil Nadu will fight against any attempt to murder it, and Tamil Nadu will win.”
He wrote “To conduct SIR in a hasty and opaque manner is nothing but a conspiracy by the ECI to rob citizens of their rights and help the BJP.”
Pointing to the irregularities in Bihar, he added that the absence of transparency in the SIR process fuelled suspicion in the public mind.