CHENNAI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has alleged serious discrepancies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, stating that inconsistencies between successive draft voter lists have left 6,04,987 voters unaccounted for.
The party has urged the Election Commission to halt the rushed implementation of the exercise and subject it to thorough scrutiny.
In a note submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer, the CPM said its technical study group analysed booth-wise deletion data released after the first phase of the SIR, which began in November 2025.
The study covered 75,025 PDF files issued by the Election Commission and examined data relating to 97,35,705 voters, excluding a small number of polling stations whose data were unavailable online.
According to the party, the draft electoral roll published in January 2025 had 6,36,12,950 voters. However, when the December 2025 draft roll was combined with the deletion list, the figures did not match the January baseline.
The party said 205 Assembly constituencies showed an unexplained increase of 5.52 lakh voters, while 29 constituencies showed a shortfall of 52,738 voters. Together, these excesses and missing names account for 6,04,987 voters whose details do not reconcile with earlier records.
Sholinganallur alone recorded an excess of 11,492 voters, while R.K. Nagar in Chennai showed a deficit of 15,658 voters. Similar patterns were reported from constituencies such as Goundampalayam, Avadi, Sriperumbudur, and Chengalpattu, on the higher side, and Gudiyatham, Kalasapakkam, Villivakkam, and parts of Theni district, on the lower side.
The CPM said a large proportion of deletions were made under the categories “not found at address” or “migrated”, with sharp variations across constituencies. It alleged that urban and industrial areas were disproportionately affected, pointing to discrimination against migrant workers and those living in rented accommodation.
In Anna Nagar, 39% of voters were shown as deleted due to migration, the highest proportion in Chennai.
The party also flagged gender and age-related bias. Women who had moved residence after marriage were found to be deleted in large numbers, often due to the absence of older records. Further, migration-related deletions were unusually high among voters aged 41 to 65, a group that typically shows lower mobility.
Concerns were also raised over deletions attributed to death. The CPM said 26.94 lakh voters were removed on this ground, with the highest number in the 41–65 age group at 9.81 lakh, followed by 8.37 lakh above 75 years and 1.81 lakh in the 23–40 age group.
Given Tamil Nadu’s average life expectancy of 70–75 years, the party said this pattern appeared implausible. Constituencies such as Kangeyam, Dharapuram, Palladam, Pallavaram and Sholinganallur recorded unusually high death-related deletions.
The CPM has demanded the release of booth-wise voter totals before and after the SIR, along with details of newly added voters in formats suitable for independent verification. It said the current process, carried out in haste, risks disenfranchising large sections of voters and must be paused for correction.