Nine parties, including TVK and DMK, walk out of EC meeting on SIR in Chennai

Nine political parties, including the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and the DMK, walked out of an all-party meeting convened by the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu, Archana Patnaik, in Chennai on Thursday to discuss the Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The meeting was held at the Secretariat in the backdrop of the Election Commission’s announcement of the SSR exercise in 17 States, including Tamil Nadu, following the SIR process.
Polling stations are to be rationalised by November 12. Applications for inclusion of names and corrections in the electoral rolls will be received from November 12 to December 11.
The final electoral rolls are scheduled to be published on January 4, 2027.
Representatives of the TVK, DMK, AIADMK, Congress, BJP, DMDK, Left parties, Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), among others, attended the meeting. Soon after the meeting began, representatives of the TVK, Congress, CPI(M), CPI, VCK and Aam Aadmi Party walked out, demanding that Mr. Gyanesh Kumar be removed over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise. The DMK, DMDK and other parties subsequently joined the walkout.
In all, nine parties, including the DMK and its allies, the TVK and its supporting parties, and the NTK, boycotted the meeting. The AIADMK, BJP and National People’s Party remained at the meeting.
The party representatives also questioned the authorities on the steps being taken to restore the names of 74 lakh voters reportedly deleted from the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu and urged the Election Commission to address discrepancies in the SIR process.