All-party meeting warns ECI: halt ‘illegal’ SIR or face Supreme Court action
It accused the Commission of acting as a “puppet of the Union government,” functioning with “arbitrary authority” in violation of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which mandates a formal Gazette notification by the Centre before such revisions.
Election Commission of India
CHENNAI: In a strong collective resolution, an all-party meeting chaired by Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Sunday urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to immediately suspend the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, terming it both “unconstitutional and anti-democratic.” The parties warned that if the Commission failed to halt the process, they would jointly move the Supreme Court of India to safeguard voters’ rights.
The resolution pointed out that with a similar SIR-related case already pending before the Supreme Court concerning Bihar, it was “legally untenable and politically motivated” for the ECI to announce the exercise in Tamil Nadu just months ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. It accused the Commission of acting as a “puppet of the Union government,” functioning with “arbitrary authority” in violation of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which mandates a formal Gazette notification by the Centre before such revisions.
The meeting further alleged that the SIR was being used as a tool to “delete genuine voters and include ineligible names,” citing irregularities in Bihar where minority and anti-BJP votes were allegedly removed. The resolution also criticised the ECI’s recent circular dated October 27, 2025, for “contradictory and confusing directives” on Aadhaar verification, which it said created suspicion and lacked transparency.
Highlighting the impractical timing of the enumeration phase (November 4–December 4, 2025), coinciding with the northeast monsoon, the parties warned that lakhs of rural voters and farmers might lose their franchise.
Declaring the SIR “a threat to democracy and voter rights,” the meeting demanded that the exercise be postponed until after the 2026 elections and conducted only under Supreme Court supervision. “If the ECI fails to withdraw its illegal notification, all opposition parties in Tamil Nadu will be left with no choice but to seek judicial remedy to protect democracy,” the resolution stated.