The ripple effects of the Election Commission’s (EC) ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar are being felt in Tamil Nadu. As leaders of the DMK and its allies, including senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, alleged that the poll body had included migrant workers, especially those from Bihar, in voter lists in the state, the EC Sunday dismissed the “false information”.
“There is no need for political leaders to spread false information with respect to the SIR exercise being conducted by EC at the national level. It has come to the notice of the EC that such information is being deliberately peddled in the media with a view to obstruct the exercise. As far as voters who have permanently shifted from Bihar to other states and are ordinarily resident in those states, the exact figures can be known only after the SIR has been conducted … It is for the voters to come forward and get enrolled in the constituency where they are eligible. But, it is noticed that some false figures are being floated about enrollment of 6.5 lakh voters in Tamil Nadu. SIR has not yet been rolled out in TN. It is therefore absurd to connect the SIR exercise in Bihar with TN. Such peddling of false statements with respect to SIR should be avoided,” the EC said in a statement.
After the EC’s figures released following the end of the first phase of the Bihar SIR showed an estimated 36 lakh voters were “missing” from Bihar’s voter lists due to “permanent migration” outside the state, political leaders in Tamil Nadu claimed that 6.5 to 7 lakh of them might have already been added to the electoral rolls in the southern state. Leaders of the DMK and its allies accused the poll panel of “attempting to reshape the political demographics of the state”.
“This is a problem in Tamil Nadu as they (migrants) came to work here as guest workers. But giving them voter IDs will result in political change in the future. If such attempts are made, we will become roaring lions to oppose it,” DMK general secretary and Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan said in Vellore on Sunday.
Chidambaram accused the EC of an “abuse of power, and attempt to change the electoral character and pattern of states”.
“While 65 lakh voters are in danger of being disenfranchised in Bihar, reports of adding 6.5 lakh persons as voters in Tamil Nadu is alarming and patently illegal. Calling them permanently migrated is an insult to the migrant workers and a gross interference in the right of the electorate of Tamil Nadu to elect a government of its choice,” he wrote on X.
“Why should the migrant worker not return to Bihar or his/her home state to vote in the Assembly election as they usually do? Does not the migrant worker return to Bihar at the time of the Chhath Puja festival?” he asked.
Claiming that a person must have a “fixed and permanent legal home” to enrol as a voter, the former Union Home Minister said the migrant worker had such a home in Bihar. “How can he/she be enrolled as a voter in Tamil Nadu? The EC is abusing its powers and trying to change the electoral character and patterns of states. This abuse of powers must be fought politically and legally,” he said.
The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a DMK ally, urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to immediately convene an all-party meeting on the issue. “The EC is carrying out SIR in Bihar, where Dalits and minorities are eliminated from the voters’ list. Tamil Nadu, which will face Assembly elections next year, will also see an SIR soon, and there are chances that lakhs of guest workers from other states will be added to the voter list. This will change the entire political scenario in the state, and I insist Stalin decide on the issue,” said VCK president and Chidambaram MP Thol Thirumavalavan.
The row has hit a flashpoint over deeper questions about identity and federal balance in a state that has long been governed by regional parties seen to be fiercely protective of its linguistic and cultural uniqueness.
Professor Ramu Manivannan, the former Head of Department of Politics at Madras University, said migrant workers in states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka had grown in number in recent years. “Linking them with poll dynamics moves the debate away from issue-based politics. In the southern states, it is increasingly seen as a BJP-RSS strategy and it will have tremendous long-term implications,” he said.
Pointing out that voting is a Constitutional right and a “deeply personal one” at that, Manivannan said, “At the core, this is not about denying migrants their rights but about whether voter inclusion is based on genuine, permanent relocation or politically motivated demographic engineering. The Constitution allows you to live and work anywhere in India, but that does not automatically grant you voting rights in your new place of work. Domicile is one thing, but electoral domicile is another.”
Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) chief coordinator Seeman echoed Manivannan’s views. “Trying to convert people from the North into voters of Tamil Nadu is a great injustice to Tamil people. All democratic forces should come forward to fight against the BJP for this tyranny, and for trying to undermine the democratic system by using the EC as a puppet to capture power in states where it cannot govern.”
Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK) founder T Velmurugan went a step further. “It is shocking that 6.5 lakh guest workers from Bihar were already added to the list of voters in Tamil Nadu. Lakhs of guest workers are already working in the state and this is a challenge to the culture and tradition of the soil,” he said, accusing the BJP of devising a “covert plan” to form a government in Tamil Nadu through demographic shifts.