CHENNAI: The claims and objections exercise under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the draft electoral roll, which began a month ago, concluded on Sunday, garnering only 12.80 lakh applications for inclusion of names in the voter list.

The one-month period, including four days of special camps, didn't yield the expected results, after 97 lakh voters were removed from the rolls in the draft released.

Election officials clarified that voters whose names do not appear on the draft roll can still apply online through the Election Commission of India's website, even after the completion of the SIR process.

Following the enumeration exercise, the total number of voters in Tamil Nadu has declined from 6.41 crore to 5.43 crore. As per the draft roll, around 27 lakh voters were deleted due to death.

Officials said nearly 12 lakh voters have been identified as "unmapped voters". They have been asked to submit the prescribed form along with proof of residence. The verification process for unmapped voters is expected to be completed by February 10.

Under the SIR exercise, Booth Level Agents (BLAs) from recognised political parties were involved in the process from October 28. With the completion of the claims and objections phase, their field work is nearing completion. Across the State, 2.72 lakh BLAs from 12 political parties participated in the exercise, covering about 75,000 polling stations.

Among the parties, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) deputed the highest number of BLAs at 68,280, followed closely by the principal Opposition, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), with 67,286 agents. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deployed 61,438 BLAs, while the Indian National Congress and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam together deputed around 35,000 agents.

After the completion of the verification of unmapped voters on February 10, the final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on February 17, officials said.