CHENNAI: The number of voters in the city has risen a tad from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) level, with the draft roll released on Thursday as part of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) 2027 putting the electorate at 29,14,908. This is 21,403 more than the 28,93,505 electors recorded on April 6, 2026. However, the city remains nearly 10.9 lakh short of the 40,04,694 names on its rolls recorded before the SIR exercise.
District Election Officer and Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G S Sameeran released the draft roll at Ripon Building in the presence of representatives of recognised political parties. January 1, 2027, is the qualifying date for the revision.
The draft published in December 2025 had left out 14.25 lakh names from the city’s rolls, a 35.6% cut, the highest among Tamil Nadu’s districts, bringing the electorate down to 25,79,676. The final roll on February 23, 2026, climbed back to 28,30,936 after a net addition of 2.51 lakh during claims and objections, but even that left the city 29.3% below its pre-SIR strength.
Anna Nagar lost the largest share of its electorate in the SIR draft at 42.2%, while Velachery lost the most names at 1,27,521. The final roll narrowed these gaps but barely with Thousand Lights ending 35.43% lesser than its pre-SIR strength and Anna Nagar 35.31%, the highest in the city.
Even Perambur, which recorded the highest additions during claims and objections at 24,142, finished 25.12% below its count before the SIR was taken up. In the draft-stage deletion data, Anna Nagar had 1,08,828 names marked as shifted and just one as absent, while Harbour had 60,258 marked shifted and none absent. A TNIE analysis in January had found these two categories were used arbitrarily and interchangeably, particularly in urban areas.
Women continue to outnumber men on the rolls with the draft carrying 15,09,040 women against 14,04,968 men besides 900 third-gender voters. Since April 6, the number of women has risen by 12,119, against an increase of 9,252 men and 32 third-gender voters.
The continuous revision between April 6 and October 31 added 34,999 names and deleted 13,596 and accounted for the net rise of 21,403. The additions comprised 15,762 men, 19,197 women and 40 third-gender voters while the deletions comprised 6,510 men, 7,078 women and eight third-gender voters.
Velachery gained the most since April 6, adding 2,181 electors, with Virugambakkam next at 2,038, Perambur at 1,843 and Kolathur at 1,767. Perambur remains the city’s largest constituency with 2,28,139 electors and Harbour the smallest with 1,20,852. Polling stations have come down from 4,079 to 4,071.
The draft roll includes 46,200 electors aged 18-19 and 28,159 aged above 85. It has 12,805 voters with disabilities and 531 service voters.
Claims and objections can be filed until December 11. Special camps will be held at all polling stations on November 21, 22 and 29, from 10 am to 5 pm, for inclusion of eligible voters and corrections to entries. The final roll will be published on January 4, 2027.