CHENNAI: Rani Shankar (46) moved anxiously from one party help desk to another outside a polling booth in Perumbakkam, searching for her name on the electoral roll. Having voted at the same primary school in the last two elections, she could not comprehend why she was now excluded.
“I filled the form during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and submitted it. No one told us we had to follow it up or when the camps were held,” she said. For many residents in Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) tenements, polling day brought shock and confusion. Several said that following up on SIR procedures would have meant losing daily wages.
Party workers stationed outside booths reported a steady stream of such voters. “Most of those missing are from the working population. They say they filled the forms but didn’t follow up,” said an AIADMK worker. Many argued with booth-level agents, struggling to accept the denial of their right to vote. “We ask them to check inside with their voter ID and Aadhaar, but it is only to pacify them and it doesn’t help,” the worker added.
S Lakshmi (78), also from Perumbakkam, stood waiting outside in the heat as her granddaughter checked the rolls. She said this would be the first time she would miss voting, having participated in over 20 elections.
A similar situation prevailed in Kannagi Nagar in Okkiyam Thoraipakkam, where several residents said they were unaware of how the SIR process worked. While some acknowledged receiving forms, they claimed they were not informed that submission was mandatory to retain their names. Others said that despite submitting forms, their names were missing.
In Keerapakkam in neighbouring Chengalpattu district, where families from Anakaputhur were relocated last year, many residents did not turn up to vote after learning their names were missing. Some families continue to live in rented houses in their original localities to avoid disrupting their children’s education, further complicating voter registration.
Booth-level agents (BLAs) across parties said confusion around reapplication requirements added to the issue. “In some families, only a few names remained despite everyone submitting forms,” said a BLA from Kannagi Nagar. Another agent in Keerapakkam estimated that at least 100 voters may have been left out.
Officials at TNUHDB tenements in Meenambal Sivaraj Nagar noted cases of voters who had relocated within the city but found their names missing despite submitting enumeration forms.
Though such cases were more widespread in resettlement areas, only a few isolated incidents were reported within the core city limits. Still, they highlighted concerns about last-mile verification and communication gaps.
Krithika Sivaswamy, one of the affected persons, said she had verified her name in the draft roll along with updated details. However, at the polling booth, she discovered that only her name had been deleted while her parents’ entries remained. Despite approaching officials, she received no explanation and was asked to follow up after the election.
In T Nagar, 84-year-old Hema Ramachandran faced a similar situation. A resident of an apartment on Rameswaram Road, she found her name missing from the final roll despite its presence in the draft list, preventing her from voting.
Another resident, K Gowri (62) from Madipakkam, alleged that booth-level officers never advised voters to verify their names in the final list. “My name was there in the draft rolls, so I assumed everything was fine. Only at the booth did I realise it was missing,” she said.
Across locations, voters said they were redirected between booth-level officers and electoral offices without any resolution. Affected people pointed to systemic gaps in communication and accountability.
“We were never told by BLOs that we need to check our names in final SIR rolls. We were not issued voter slips also, which during previous elections were given at least two days before polling day,” said Arul Durga (67), husband of Gowri whose name was also missing.
(Inputs from Praveena SA & Rudhran Baraasu @ Chennai)