CHENNAI: With the announcement to commence Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu imminent, officials in the Public (Elections) Department headed by the Chief Electoral Officer said around 75,000 personnel are likely to be engaged in the massive exercise to be carried out at polling booth level.
Sources TNIE spoke to said that the spade work for conducting the exercise has been almost completed. TN CEO Archana Patnaik was among the CEOs from few States who attended a two-day meeting at the ECI in Delhi regarding the exercise this week.
On the preliminary work taken up for the SIR, one of the officials here said, they have been first ensuring that necessary human resources are in place to carry out the work. “Following our request to political parties to appoint their booth-level agents. We have asked all recognised political parties in Tamil Nadu to appoint one BLA per booth, as they are entitled to. Most of them have appointed the BLAs, and a few are in the process," the official said.
The staff who will be drawn from various departments from various departments of the government for SIR will be nominated as Booth Level Officers (BLOs), BLO Supervisors, District Election Officers (DEOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) for the exercise.
The sources said once the notification for SIR is issued, the CEO will consult the political parties at the State level to know their views and suggestions, while the DEOs and EROs will conduct similar exercises at the district and Assembly constituency level, to make the political parties understand the process involved in this exercise.
According to officials, the guidelines to be issued by ECI for SIR in Tamil Nadu is likely to be slightly different than what was issued in Bihar, where the exercise triggered lot of allegations from opposition parties regarding the process.
They said that though the BLOs will be going door-to-door with the enumeration form, the exercise will also be IT-supported. “They will collect the details and feed them into their mobile then and there using an amalgamating software designed by the ECI."
Meanwhile, the ruling DMK and its allies have expressed concerns over the exercise and urged for a fair and transparent process, leaving no room for complaints or suspicions.
DMK MP and secretary to the party's legal wing, NR Elango, told TNIE that DMK MP Kalanidhi Veerasamy has filed a petition before the SC, impleading himself in the petition filed by the Congress party regarding the alleged irregularities committed during the SIR in Bihar.
He said while his party wished to have clean electoral rolls, such clean up should be done without giving any room for complaints. “The ECI should give sufficient time for additions, deletions, etc,” he said, adding that his party was ready to face the SIR if ECI decided to do it in Tamil Nadu.
TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai emphasised his party’s stance that SIR was unnecessary in Tamil Nadu. “Tamil Nadu is a State where political awareness is high. The people of the State will not allow any wrongdoings in the name of SIR. The ECI should understand this and act accordingly," he said.
Expressing concern over the roll out of the exercise in Tamil Nadu, VCK general secretary and MP D Ravikumar said Chief Minister MK Stalin should convene an all-party meeting to chalk out the next course of action in this regard. He recalled that the VCK had also impleaded itself in the case against SIR before the SC. “The ECI has not given proper clarification to the allegations made regarding the SIR so far,” he said.
Arguing that it is the universal adult franchise of one vote for one person that ensures equality in India, he alleged that the manner in which the SIR is conducted undermined this.
CPI State secretary M Veerapandian said his party would continue to oppose the SIR since it was not conducted fairly in other parts of the country. He charged that the present union government has 'bent' the ECI, which is supposed to be neutral.
While emphasizing that his party high command would spell out AIADMK’s official stance on SIR, its spokesperson Kovai Sathyan alleged that ruling DMK is afraid of SIR - an exercise of ECI - since it has added 20,000 to 30,000 “bogus voters” in all constituencies in Chennai.
“We can't question the powers of an autonomous body like ECI. The Commission is also giving an option to the political parties to challenge its decisions in the SIR," he said.
BJP State president Nainar Nagenthran, speaking to reporters in Madurai, asked what was wrong in conducting the SIR. The allegations over a large number of valid voters getting removed during the exercise in Bihar have been proven wrong, he said. He added that DMK will make allegations about the SIR since it is going to become an opposition party after the 2026 assembly elections.
