SIR, Tamil Nadu politics, and Gen Z’s silence: Why the state is out of step with the anti-CEC protests

Tamil Nadu has never been a state that shies away from political confrontation. From the anti-Hindi agitations to the battles over federalism, the state has a long tradition of street protests, student movements and political mobilisation.

Yet, when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls became a national controversy, the expected groundswell of public anger in Tamil Nadu did not materialise on the scale that some Opposition leaders might have anticipated.

More puzzling is the apparent absence of a sustained, state-wide mobilisation by Gen Z, a generation frequently described as politically conscious and digitally connected.

But is Tamil Nadu really silent and why?

The answer can be more complicated than it appears. The DMK has opposed the SIR exercise, with former CM M.K. Stalin demanding a halt to the process and the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. The Congress has also organised protests in Chennai, while Left parties have announced statewide demonstrations.

The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), a youth-led movement, has taken the issue to the streets. The Election Commission (EC) has also scheduled special enrollment camps, including the one on Saturday, to facilitate the inclusion of eligible voters.

The protests exist, but what is missing is a sustained mass movement that transcends party boundaries and turns the controversy into a broader public campaign, thanks to the changed political landscape in Tamil Nadu.

The 2026 Assembly election results have completely altered the state’s familiar political equations. With Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) forming the government and the DMK moving into the Opposition, the politics surrounding the SIR has also got entangled with competing party interests.

The Congress, which was part of the DMK-led alliance for more than two decades—except in the 2014 elections—is now aligned with the TVK government. Also, the Congress, which talks about voter deletions across the country, has not chosen to talk with the same tone and tenor in Tamil Nadu.

The DMK, meanwhile, has questioned Rahul Gandhi’s approach to the issue, arguing that he has not adequately addressed alleged voter deletions in the state. In fact, a controversy that should have been fought tooth-and-nail and centred on the integrity of electoral rolls has increasingly gone off the radar, or rather, has been filtered through the rivalries of political parties.

These political divisions and differences between the former allies have made it harder to build a common movement. There is no public mobilisation. There is no one to lead the protest in the state, there is no aggressiveness seen on the ground, and there is no momentum like in Delhi.

For Gen Z, the question is different. Young people may be politically aware without necessarily participating in conventional party-led demonstrations.

But digital engagement, criticism on social media and electoral participation may not automatically translate into street protests, as they have been made to believe. On the other side, the youth power in the state cannot just be dismissed by saying that young people are indifferent to democracy.

Even when Rahul Gandhi is in Chennai to call on CM C. Joseph Vijay and address a youth gathering in the evening under the name of ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’, the TVK doesn’t oppose the SIR in the same manner as the Congress does.

Indeed, while Congress and the CJP demand scrapping the entire SIR process that they call a sham, the TVK opposing the SIR would make their own victory illegitimate as well.

When Rahul was jumping the barricades, fighting the Delhi police and getting arrested in Delhi, Congress ally TVK and the Tamil Nadu Congress unit didn’t even talk about the ordeals he was facing due to police excesses in Delhi.

TVK’s election strategist general secretary and PWD minister Aadhav Arjuna claims that the TVK would have won 170 seats if there was no SIR. He said it was the officials under the DMK government who worked on cleaning the voter list.

However, the Congress, which was part of the DMK alliance then, doesn’t blame the DMK, though its president Mallikarjuna Kharge claims that every state election held after the SIR should be called off.

There is also another practical question that deserves a better attention in Tamil Nadu. Do young voters understand how SIR could affect their own electoral registration?

The difficulties faced by first-time voters, migrant workers, married women and people with limited documentation need to be explained clearly, without exaggeration or political spin.

Ultimately, the test is not how many slogans are raised against SIR, but whether eligible voters were able to exercise their constitutional right without arbitrary exclusion in the April 23 elections.

Tamil Nadu’s political history shows that public movements gain strength when people see a direct connection between an issue and their everyday lives, and when there is a leader to lead from the ground.

Of course, if there is no political party in this state to strongly voice out the need for electoral integrity, how can it be turned into a political controversy bigger than any other issue on the ground?