Chennai, Nov 18 (IANS) The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) on Tuesday staged a strong demonstration at the Egmore Rajarathinam Stadium, alleging large-scale irregularities and a lack of transparency in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.

NTK chief coordinator Seeman led the protest, sharply criticising the Election Commission of India (ECI) and questioning the credibility of the entire revision process.

Addressing a large gathering of cadres, Seeman accused the ECI of “years of gross negligence” in maintaining accurate and credible voter lists.

He pointed out that the Commission had repeatedly failed to respond to complaints raised during several election cycles regarding duplicate and bogus voters.

“Did you discover fake votes only in 2024? What were you doing all these years?” he asked, alleging that the sudden identification of anomalies raised suspicions about the timing and intent behind the current SIR exercise.

Reacting to the BJP-led Central government’s recent assertions that over 4,500 bogus voters were identified in Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s Kolathur constituency, Seeman questioned the selective focus of the claims.

“The BJP highlighting only Kolathur while ignoring similar irregularities in many other constituencies raises doubts. Why target only one seat?” he said, hinting at political motives rather than a genuine effort to cleanse the voter rolls.

Seeman further alleged that parties across the political spectrum were enabling “vote-bank politics” by allowing non-residents and migrant workers to be added to electoral rolls without proper field verification.

He warned that such practices were eroding public trust in the democratic process.

“The vote is the people’s last weapon. If that, too, is tampered with, democracy collapses,” he said, urging the public to remain vigilant.

The NTK demanded that the Election Commission conduct the SIR process in a transparent, uniform and unbiased manner, free from interference by any political party or government.

The party insisted that restoring confidence in the electoral system must be the Commission’s top priority. With multiple parties raising concerns over work pressures on officials, district-level inconsistencies, and alleged political influence in the SIR process, NTK’s protest marks yet another escalation in growing tensions surrounding the State’s voter roll revision exercise.

—IANS

aal/rad