Tamil Nadu's voter revision in chaos: Glitches and boycott threaten SIR process

It has been fifteen days since the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) began rolling out in Tamil Nadu, and people in most parts of the state are facing several glitches; the process is marred with confusion, workload on the part of the BLOs, and lack of clarity in filling forms. 

Over 6 crore forms distributed: ECI

The Election Commission of India’s bulletin on Sunday claimed that more than six crore voters have received their enumeration forms. It is two weeks since the enumeration form distribution which started in Tamil Nadu. As per ECI’s announcement, only 41 lakh more voters out of the total 6.46 crore voters are yet to receive the enumeration forms, according to ECI.

Most of the Booth Level Officers (BLOs), people say, didn’t come to their place. “I called my BLO at least three times continuously to get my form. Finally, I got it. I do not know how to fill the form now. I have filled the first column, and I am not able to fill the second and third boxes,” says S. Manimaran, from Gudiyatham near Vellore. Manimaran’s mother Raja Rajeswari, who voted in Trichy in 2024, has moved to his place after his father passed away. “I am not able to find her form. How do I get it now? I don’t know how to get her form or how to transfer it from Trichy to Gudiyatham now,” explains Manimaran. 

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Archana Patnaik, in a press statement, has said the ECI has allowed Booth-Level Agents from the recognised political parties to actively participate in the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in the state. She said that the BLAs can assist the voters and also the local BLOs. As per the announcement from ECI, the BLAs of the political parties can submit upto 50 verified enumeration forms per day to the BLOs. “The active participation of the BLAs of the recognised political parties, who are one of the major stakeholders of elections, is also required for the successful completion of this exercise,” Archana Patnaik said in her statement. 

Lack of clarity

While Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) are on the ground, supporting the voters in filling the enumeration form, the BLOs lack clarity in terms of distribution. In some of the constituencies, the BLOs are giving only one form, while two forms have to be given to the voters, and the QR code in the forms has to be scanned. After filling the forms, one will be retained by the voter, and the other will be submitted. But, the BLO has to scan both the forms, which is not being done in many places. 

Apart from this, the BLOs are also not sure whether they should distribute the form if the voter has shifted to a different address within the same assembly constituency. “They lack the basic training. My BLO told me to fill just the first column and give it back to her with a photo. But when I checked again, I understood she was wrong. So I called her again and asked her to clarify. But she asked me to do as per my wish, but should not hold her responsible if I lose my vote,” says Sivabalan Rajamanickam, a resident of West Mambalam in Chennai. 

Revenue department officials to boycott SIR work

The Revenue Department Officers Union has submitted a representation to Archana Patnaik, urging her immediate intervention, as the ongoing SIR is being carried out without proper planning, adequate training, without sanctioning additional staff or financial allocation, and by forcing officers to complete the work in an urgent manner. This has caused severe workload burden and mental stress for all levels of revenue department officials.

However, despite this representation, work pressure has only increased. In addition, a few district collectors are subjecting subordinate officers to harassment in the name of review meetings, said the representation submitted by the union. Strongly condemning these issues and demanding that such harassment be stopped immediately, the Federation of Revenue Associations (FERA) has unanimously decided to launch a two-phase protest action in Tamil Nadu from Tuesday. “ From November 18 onwards, all work related to SIR  will be completely boycotted. This includes receiving forms, uploading details online, attending SIR review meetings, and carrying out any other work connected to the electoral roll. All levels of revenue department staff—village assistants, Village Administrative Officers (VAO), surveyors, inspectors, office assistants, and Tahsildars—will participate fully in this protest. In addition, BLOs from the nutrition department, anganwadi workers, municipality/corporation employees, teachers, and officials who are serving as supervisors will also join the protest in coordination with their respective associations, the representation submitted by FERA to the CEO said.

Copy of Bihar SIR an evidence in Tamil Nadu

On the other hand, the last condition in the forms issued in certain regions of the state lists Bihar’s SIR roll as a document that would serve as proof of identity. This line appeared as one of the conditions on the second page of most of the forms, leaving voters puzzled how a Bihar-specific document found place in Tamil Nadu’s voter list inclusion.