Stalin questions Election Commission over voter roll irregularities, CEC's media interaction

Chennai, Aug 18 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M.K. Stalin on Monday intensified his attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging large-scale irregularities in the preparation of electoral rolls and questioning the recent media interaction of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

Stalin said the CEC’s remarks had "raised more questions than answers" to the concerns already flagged by the opposition INDIA bloc on the issue of vote theft.

In a detailed post on his X handle, he posed seven pointed questions to the poll body, particularly highlighting what he described as shocking levels of voter deletions despite a house-to-house enumeration.

"How can there be so many deletions of eligible voters when house-to-house enumeration was undertaken?" he asked.

The Chief Minister expressed concern over the low enrolment of new voters, questioning whether young citizens who had just turned 18 were being properly included in the electoral rolls.

"Has any database been compiled to show how many youngsters who turned 18 on the qualifying date were included?" he said.

Stalin also criticised procedural shortcomings under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, warning that the process of inquiries and two appeals, with its rigid timelines, might end up excluding a significant number of voters in the forthcoming Bihar elections. He asked the Commission to clarify whether such hurdles would be rectified while conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in other states.

The DMK chief reminded the ECI that his party had written to it on July 17, requesting deletion of deceased voters from the rolls by following the very procedure outlined by the Commission in its May 1 communication.

"When will this exercise be undertaken?" he asked.

Stalin further questioned the Commission’s decision not to accept Aadhaar as valid proof for voter claims. He argued that if the ECI was genuinely committed to free and fair elections, it should adopt a more transparent and voter-friendly approach.

By joining the growing opposition criticism of the Commission, Stalin signalled that the issue of voter roll manipulation could become a major political flashpoint ahead of upcoming elections. His intervention also underscores the INDIA bloc’s strategy to keep electoral transparency at the centre of its campaign narrative.

--IANS

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