Opposition claims DMK influenced booth officers to manipulate SIR, Minister denies

UPDATED: Nov 17, 2025 12:44 IST

The BJP, AIADMK and TVK accused the ruling DMK of influencing Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and manipulating voter-related procedures in Chennai’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

The DMK has rejected the allegations, insisting it is working only to safeguard every voter’s rights.

BJP leader Vinoj P Selvam alleged that DMK workers were creating “hindrance” during the SIR exercise by threatening their teams. He claimed DMK men had taken away SIR forms saying they would fill them, and that the process of distribution was bypassed.

Selvam said that in T Nagar, 40 per cent of forms had reached booths on Friday night, but by the next morning, all forms were shown as distributed on the app without following proper procedures. He added that BJP and AIADMK have been trying to meet Election Officers, but “State Government–appointed officers are not trying to meet us.”

The AIADMK echoed similar concerns. Party functionary C Rajesh alleged that BLOs, along with DMK members and Corporation staff, had scanned and uploaded 5,000 enumeration forms. Rajesh visited Vinayagapuram Government School and Nehru Nagar Corporation ward, where he was seen questioning BLOs over missing voter lists that were reportedly scanned and uploaded.

Actor Vijay’s TVK also protested against the SIR exercise, accusing the DMK of misusing its authority. The party claimed that unlike in Bihar, the Tamil Nadu SIR process is fully controlled by the ruling party. TVK alleged that DMK has access to the list of all 68,000 government and anganwadi staff serving as BLOs and that “DMK has become BLOs now.”

The party further claimed that local MLAs or Ministers were instructing officials not to carry out their duties and that they would take charge of visiting residences instead.

‘LAME EXCUSES’

Tamil Nadu Education Minister TRB Raja, however, dismissed all allegations as “lame excuses.” He said even an ex-AIADMK MLA had acknowledged receiving help from DMK during voter registration.

“You are an all-powerful ECI, how can we usurp your power? Everyone knows where the actual ECI is today,” he said. Raja argued that opposition parties should train their BLA2 workers instead of blaming DMK, and asserted that the ruling party is “protecting the rights of all voters,” including supporters of BJP, AIADMK, TVK and even NOTA.

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