Post-SIR, size of electorate in Chennai and nearby districts remains larger than votes polled in 2021 and 2026 polls

Following the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, the size of the electorate in most Assembly constituencies in Chennai and its three neighbouring districts is larger than the votes polled during the 2021 Assembly and 2024 Parliamentary elections.

Only in four constituencies, all in the city, did the number of votes polled in 2021 exceed the revised strength of the electorate. The four seats were Villivakkam, R.K. Nagar, Perambur, and Anna Nagar, where the margin of difference varies from 206 in Perambur to 1,386 in Villivakkam to 2,961 in Anna Nagar to 8,671 in R.K. Nagar.

A comparison of the data of votes polled and the existing strength in 37 Assembly constituencies falling under the districts of Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, and Chengalpattu, apart from Chennai throws up interesting details. These four districts have seen a very high degree of deletion of names from the electoral rolls. While examining the data, the fact that during 2020 and 21, the State witnessed two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing a large number of deaths, should also be considered.

On an average, nearly 2 lakh persons had voted in every constituency in 2021 and 1.85 lakh in 2024. The revised draft electoral rolls, published on Friday (December 19) puts the voter size at about 2.3 lakh.

Concern has been expressed by political parties in general, particularly the ruling DMK’s allies in particular, about the level of deletions, whereas the AIADMK has contended that most of the deleted entries belong to bogus voters. But, the overall picture of the voters’ strength does not indicate any discrepancy with regard to the electorate in the 37 Assembly constituencies, even though what has been released is only the draft electoral roll.