‘Last-minute rush’ in submitting varieties for including names in ballot rolls raises questions

A case of “last minute rush” within the submission of varieties for inclusion of names within the electoral rolls through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has cropped up in the middle of a comparative perusal of knowledge furnished by election officers in Tamil Nadu, leaving room for suspicion about stuffing of the rolls.

This could be gauged from the perusal of the releases issued by the workplace of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on January 30, the final day for the submission of claims and objections, and February 23, when the ultimate rolls had been revealed. The submission of varieties started on December 19.

Right query

According to the January 30 launch, the full variety of purposes obtained for inclusion below Form 6 or 6A was about 16.7 lakh and for deletion, 1.4 lakh. The launch in query captured the standing as at 8 p.m. on January 29.

However, the February 23 launch said that 27.53 lakh eligible electors had been added, and 4.23 lakh ineligible individuals had been deleted. This led to the query whether or not the authorities, on a single day (January 30, 2026), obtained at the very least 10.8 lakh purposes for addition and a pair of.8 lakh purposes for deletion, not to mention these purposes that might have been turned down.

‘Clear instructions’

Asked for response, CEO Archana Patnaik instructed The Hindu on Tuesday that there was no query of stuffing of the rolls as plenty of senior officers had been drafted to make sure that the method went off easily and correctly. Moreover, the directions of the Election Commission of India at first of the SIR had been “quite clear”.

As for an irregular enhance within the variety of purposes, Ms. Patnaik mentioned the ultimate determine of inclusion encompassed purposes obtained earlier than the method, which started on October 27, 2025, with the freeze on the inclusion and deletion of names. It additionally lined about 5.73 lakh purposes obtained on-line, along with these obtained by booth-level officers.

Tamil Nadu was amongst 12 States and Union Territories, together with West Bengal, Kerala. and Puducherry, the place the Election Commission carried out the SIR within the second part. The enumeration part went on from November 4 to December 14. Five days later, the draft rolls had been launched.