CHENNAI: With the dust over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) finally, formally settled, the number of voters in Tamil Nadu has fallen to 5.67 crore from 6.41 crore, a reduction of more than 74 lakh names during the exercise.
As per the final electoral roll, the number of voters has come down to 5,67,07,380 from 6,41,14,587. Of these, 2,89,60,838 are women, 2,77,38,925 are men and 7,617 belong to the third gender category, reflecting the continued dominance of women voters in the State's electorate for over a decade.
Sharing the details with the media on Monday, State Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik said that after the enumeration process, the draft roll published on December 19 contained 5,43,76,756 electors.
During the claims and objections period between December 19 and January 31, the commission accepted 27,53,796 applications for inclusion, while 4.23 lakh names were deleted. As a result, the total electorate increased from 5.43 crore in the draft roll to 5.67 crore in the final roll.
Patnaik said that during the SIR period, around 12 lakh voters were asked to submit documents due to mapping issues identified by the Election Commission of India (ECI). After scrutiny, only about 2,000 names were removed on that ground.
Among the constituencies, Sholinganallur has the highest number of voters at 5.36 lakh, followed by Avadi with 4.28 lakh. Harbour has the lowest electorate at 1.16 lakh, followed by Egmore (SC) with 1.34 lakh voters.
The SIR exercise also witnessed significant enrolment of young voters. Around 12 lakh voters in the electoral roll belong to the 18–19 age group, of whom 7.40 lakh were added during the SIR period.
In addition, the ECI provided an opportunity for non-resident State voters to enrol. A total of 3,551 applications from persons residing outside Tamil Nadu were accepted and included in the final roll.
The revised electoral roll will form the basis for the forthcoming Assembly election in the State.
The final roll points to a stark urban–rural contrast in the impact of the revision exercise. In Chennai, many constituencies recorded exceptionally high deletions, with Thousand Lights seeing a 35.43 per cent drop, followed by Anna Nagar at 35.31 per cent, Harbour at 35.18 per cent, T Nagar at 34.21 per cent and Villivakkam at 33.56 per cent.
In contrast, rural and semi-urban constituencies witnessed only marginal reductions, with Jayankondam in Ariyalur recording a decline of just 1.42 per cent, Ariyalur 1.57 per cent, Ulundurpettai 2.43 per cent, and Pennagaram 2.95 per cent.
The wide gap suggests that urban constituencies, marked by higher population mobility and stricter verification of addresses, faced far greater deletions than rural areas with more stable populations and easier field-level verification.
TOTAL VOTERS
Before SIR: 6,41,14,587
During SIR: 5,43,76,756 (Draft)
After SIR: 5,67,07,380 (Final electorate)
(Male: 2,77,38,925, Female: 2,89,60,838, Third Gender: 7,617)
Biggest Assembly constituencies:
Sholinganallur, Avadi
Smallest constituencies:
Harbour, Egmore