CHENNAI: The AIADMK and the BJP on Friday welcomed the Election Commission's draft electoral roll for Tamil Nadu, asserting that the large-scale deletion of ineligible names has strengthened democratic processes ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
AIADMK general secretary and Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), in a statement, said reports of over 90 lakh deletions vindicated the party's long-standing demand for a thorough revision of voter rolls.
He accused the Stalin-led DMK of spreading panic and misinformation, and urged voters not to fear if their names were missing in the draft list.
EPS clarified that genuine voters could restore their names through Form-6 or Form-8, assuring full assistance from AIADMK booth-level agents.
The former CM directed his party functionaries to verify deletions booth-wise, ensure correction of genuine cases, and press for the removal of any remaining fake votes, stressing that the exercise would provide a credible and fair electoral foundation for 2026.
Echoing similar views, former BJP state president and senior leader Tamilisai Soundararajan, speaking to reporters at Chennai airport, said the removal of nearly one crore names from the draft voter list should be seen as a historic and necessary cleansing exercise.
She underlined that those deleted could not be termed voters, but only persons wrongly listed as voters, including the deceased, migrants and otherwise ineligible individuals.
"This is not an arbitrary deletion but a systematic purification of the electoral roll. The Election Commission's transparent action has safeguarded democracy," Tamilisai said, questioning why the INDIA bloc parties, particularly the ruling DMK, had opposed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The former Governor alleged that objections to the exercise raised suspicions about attempts to misuse bogus votes, adding that significant deletions in Chief Minister MK Stalin's Kolathur constituency highlighted the urgency of the revision.
Tamilisai also noted that the visit of BJP national working president Nitin Nabin to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would energise cadres and reinforce confidence that the NDA would register major electoral gains in both regions.