Udhayanidhi Stalin slams SIR process; Poll body responds to Perumbakkam voter list chaos

A political clash has broken out over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin accusing the Narendra Modi government of misusing the process to add fake voters and manipulate elections. He claimed the Centre is resorting to new lows and will conduct polls “cunningly.” The BJP hit back, saying the Tamil Nadu leadership is only making excuses out of fear of losing and insisted that the SIR exercise is completely transparent.

A voter identity crisis has unfolded in Perumbakkam, Tamil Nadu, where thousands of residents fear being left off the electoral rolls due to glaring discrepancies. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are struggling to carry out the enumeration across 200 blocks, with cases like 177 voters registered at a single address underscoring the chaos. After the issue surfaced, the Tamil Nadu Election Commission said that 17,743 of 22,658 forms had been distributed and additional staff were deployed to help. One BLO described the ground situation, noting that although she was assigned to distribute 935 forms, she managed to hand out only 150.