CHENNAI: In an ominous sign for the capital city and its suburban districts, the Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Chennai (KTCC) region accounted for nearly one-third of the voter deletions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with 30.21 lakh voters removed from the electoral rolls.
Deletions were made under three categories: death, shift or absence, and multiple entries. In the KTCC region, about 73,000 voters were deleted due to various entries, a figure lower than that recorded in the southern region, which clearly shows shifting of residence and lack of follow-up to complete SIR norms as a major reason for the Metropolitan region's poor performance in SIR.
The western region of Tamil Nadu came second, with 21.52 lakh voters removed. This region comprises Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Tirupur, the Nilgiris and Namakkal districts. Coimbatore alone accounted for 6.50 lakh deletions, while Tirupur recorded 5.63 lakh deletions.
Both districts have a high concentration of migrant workers. The western region also recorded the second-highest number of duplicate voters, with 90,883 identified.
The southern region witnessed deletions almost on par with the western region, with 19.72 lakh voters removed across ten districts: Dindigul, Madurai, Theni, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari. This region recorded the highest number of multiple entries, with 1.08 lakh voters deleted on this ground.
In contrast, central and northern Tamil Nadu, which are relatively less urbanised, reported lower levels of deletions. The northern region, comprising Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Villupuram, Kallakurichi and Cuddalore districts, saw 14.99 lakh voters removed under the SIR exercise.
The central region, covering Ariyalur, Perambalur, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Tiruchy, Karur and Pudukkottai districts, recorded the lowest deletions at 10.93 lakh voters. In these two regions, 46,809 and 68,331 voters, respectively, were removed due to multiple entries.
Overall, 97.37 lakh voters were deleted across Tamil Nadu, reducing the total electorate from 6.41 crore to 5.43 crore.