From The Hindu · The Hindu Bureau · · 2m
74 lakh voters missing from Tamil Nadu rolls
A citizens' collective claims over 74 lakh voters have been deleted from Tamil Nadu's electoral rolls during a nationwide revision exercise, raising questions about democracy.
In brief
A citizens' collective claims over 74 lakh voters have been deleted from Tamil Nadu's electoral rolls during a nationwide revision exercise, raising questions about democracy. The Independent Young Citizens Collective alleges 74.07 lakh voters were removed from Tamil Nadu's electoral rolls and is organising a rally to…
Collective claims mass voter deletion
The Independent Young Citizens Collective alleges that 74.07 lakh voters have been removed from Tamil Nadu's electoral rolls, accounting for around 11.5 percent of the State's electorate.
Rally planned for November 26
The collective announced a rally on Anna Salai on November 26 as part of a nationwide day of action against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Part of national platform
The IYCC is part of People Against SIR, a national platform comprising mass organisations, social movements and individual activists, independent of political parties.
Radhika Ganesh calls it democratic crisis
Co-convenor Radhika Ganesh alleged the SIR was a BJP-RSS project without constitutional basis and described the deletions as a democratic crisis requiring answers from the Election Commission.
Prabhakar demands scrapping of SIR
Political economist Parakala Prabhakar called for scrapping the SIR, restoring deleted voters, annulling elections using SIR rolls, and conducting forthcoming elections using 2024 electoral rolls instead.
Krishna criticises enumeration burden
Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna said the exercise required voters to furnish details from 2002 electoral rolls, placing unreasonable burden on citizens who might not remember polling stations from over two decades ago.
Krishna questions focus on deletion
Krishna alleged the exercise appeared designed to identify voters for deletion rather than ensure inclusion of every eligible citizen, and questioned reliance on 2002 rolls when many had voted since.
Political parties criticised for silence
Krishna said the deletions had not received adequate political or public attention and questioned the failure of political parties to raise the issue as a matter of democratic concern.
What to remember
The Independent Young Citizens Collective alleges 74.07 lakh voters were removed from Tamil Nadu's electoral rolls and is organising a rally to oppose the Special Intensive Revision exercise.
