The Election Commission on Monday published the final electoral roll for Tamil Nadu following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The poll-bound state now has 5,67,07,380. Around 74 lakh voters were deleted through the SIR exercise.
Before the SIR exercise began, the number of voters in Tamil Nadu was 6.41 crore. The electorate has now dropped to 5.67 crore, as per the final list. This means 74 lakh names have been removed from the list in the poll-bound state.
The District Election Officers released the numbers in their respective districts. Later, Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik held a press conference in the afternoon in Chennai.
Following an order of the Supreme Court of India, the Election Commission of India (ECI), on 30 January, said that they had instructed that the list of the names of the persons figuring in the category of “logical discrepancies” shall be displayed at the gram panchayat bhawans, public places and Taluka/Sub-Division, including the ward offices in urban areas.
Speaking in Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik said the electorate comprises 2.7 crore men, 2.8 crore women, and 7,617 third-gender voters. Patnaik said that as many as 4,38,425 applications were received for deletion from the voter list during the claims and objections period from 19 December 2025 to 30 January 2026. Of them, 4,23,172 entries have been deleted in the final electoral roll.
Tamil Nadu is voting to elect a new assembly later this year.
The SIR exercise sparked a row when it began first in Bihar in July last year, ahead of polls. As many as 6.9 million names were removed in Bihar. The exercise also sparked a political controversy in West Bengal, where elections are scheduled for later this year.
The Election Commission has suspended seven officials in West Bengal with immediate effect for serious misconduct, dereliction of duty and misuse of statutory powers in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The action has been taken using its powers under the electoral law,
The SIR exercise has sparked controversy in multiple states, including Bihar and West Bengal.
All the suspended officers were working as assistant electoral registration officers for the EC.
Earlier this month, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appeared in the Supreme Court during the crucial hearing on the petitions challenging the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state.
