Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], November 18 : DMK MP and advocate NR Elango alleged on Tuesday that electors and BLOs are facing trouble as people are unable to fill out the enumeration forms during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Tamil Nadu.
Flagging the inconvenience, NR Elango said that the SIR exercise in the state is "not going in the right direction."
The DMK leader told ANI, "Everything the DMK said about the SIR process has been proven correct on the ground. The BLOs themselves are facing a lot of problems and criticism regarding the SIR process. People are unable to fill out their forms. The 2002 list is not fully downloadable. Even if it is downloadable, it doesn't provide complete information. Therefore, people are facing a lot of inconvenience in filling out the forms. It is not going in the right direction."
During a press conference, Elango also hit back at the BJP's allegations of the DMK using its cadre for the exercise. He said, "The BJP never believes in law. When officials are used for the election process, then they come under the election commission."
The DMK has opposed the SIR exercise in the state and moved to the Supreme Court against it. The apex court issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the SIR of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also ordered that the High Courts keep in abeyance the petitions filed before them in relation to the SIR of these states and the state of Bihar.
It has now posted the matter for hearing on November 26.
"Since this court is seized of the matter pertaining to the legality of SIR of electoral rolls in various states, including Bihar, WB, TN, Pondicherry, etc., we request jurisdictional High Courts to keep in abeyance or defer the writ proceedings if any filed in those High Courts touching the validity of SIR in their states," observed the bench.
SIR in West Bengal was challenged by TMC MP Dola Sen, and the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and DMK, through its secretary RS Bharathi, challenged the SIR exercise in Tamil Nadu.
During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for DMK, alleged that the SIR exercise was being undertaken in a tearing hurry, unlike before, when it used to take three years to revise the electoral rolls. To this, the bench asked the petitioners why they were so apprehensive about the exercise.
ECI announced last month that it will conduct the second phase of SIR of electoral rolls across 12 states and Union Territories, with the final voter list to be published on February 7, 2026.
The exercise will cover Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.