The ABP Southern Rising Summit 2025 held in Chennai was a platform for political discussion, but on Tuesday (25 November 2025) the atmosphere on this platform became heated when 4 major parties, DMA, AIDMK, BJP and Congress came face to face over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list. SIR Voter List: Reform or Manipulation? This environment proved how different the political interpretation of every change being made in the election process can be.
The leaders from the INDIA block argued that the way the SIR process is being run, the names of thousands of genuine voters, who are already economically, socially or geographically weak, may disappear from the list. He alleged that the 30-day deadline, limited staff and heavy workload are all creating a situation where democratic rights are at stake.
What apprehension did the DMK leader express?
DMK national spokesperson Salem Dharanidharan lodged the first and most pointed objection in the session. He alleged that such a process is going on in the name of SIR in which there is a risk that the names of eligible voters may be deleted and this is a dangerous sign for democracy. Dharanidharan raised the question whether the existing government employees, who are already facing the pressure of many responsibilities, will be able to complete this process within the time limit of 30 days?
AIADMK’s sharp counterattack
AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan countered DMK’s allegations and said that DMK is actually the originator of this problem and has been presenting the biggest example of scientific vote theft. According to him, the opposition is defaming the SIR process just to take political advantage.
Speaking on the issue of SIR, DMK’s Salem Dharanidharan said that if there is even one person in a democracy who is unable to vote despite being eligible to vote, then it weakens the entire democratic system.
73 lakh eligible voters were removed in 2006 – SG Surya’s counterattack
During the debate, Surya, while responding to Dharanidharan’s statement, said that Dharanidharan says that not a single eligible vote should be left out, but in 2006, during the rule of Congress-DMK UPA government, 73 lakh eligible voters were removed from the voter list. So many people were denied the right to vote just because they did not have photographs.
Surya claimed that he had the CAG’s 2010 audit report which showed that the election department had no backup of the 73 lakh eligible voters who were removed. These names were removed from the list due to lack of photo. The clear reason for the decision to remove was not recorded. Surya said, in 2006, the UPA government had removed 73 lakh eligible voters from the list for unknown reasons, so today DMK’s claim that not even a single vote should be left out seems strange.
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