The Election Commission of India has removed 97.3 lakh names from Tamil Nadu’s draft voter list and 73.7 lakh from Gujarat during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, according to data released by state election authorities.
In Tamil Nadu, officials said 66.4 lakh voters were removed due to change of residence, 26.9 lakh due to death, and 3.9 lakh for duplicate enrolment.
The state’s draft electoral roll now includes around 2.6 crore men and 2.7 crore women, according to the Deccan Herald.
Chennai recorded the steepest decline, with nearly 14.2 lakh voters, about 35% of the city’s electorate, removed from the draft list.
In Gujarat, the total number of voters dropped from 5 crore to 4.3 crore. Of the 73.7 lakh deletions, 51.8 lakh were attributed to change of residence, 18 lakh to deaths, and 3.8 lakh to multiple registrations, officials said.
The deletions are provisional, and voters whose names have been excluded can file claims and objections until January 18.
The revision process in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat concluded on December 14. Tamil Nadu is expected to hold Assembly elections in the first half of 2026, while Gujarat is scheduled for polls in late 2027.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Tuesday released the draft electoral rolls for West Bengal, where over 58 lakh names have been removed. Similar revision exercises are currently underway in nine other states and Union Territories.
In Bihar, where the revision was completed ahead of the Assembly elections held in November, around 47 lakh voters were excluded from the final electoral roll. The scale of deletions there sparked concerns about eligible voters being disenfranchised, prompting multiple petitions before the Supreme Court.
Concerns raised in Bihar have also fueled wider apprehension that the ongoing revision exercise could lead to the exclusion of legitimate voters if not carefully scrutinised.
In a major update to electoral rolls across multiple states, the Election Commission has removed tens of lakh
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram described the deletion of voter names as “astonishing,” saying that while the removal of deceased voters and duplicate entries was understandable, the scale of exclusions due to missing addresses was deeply concerning.
“We can accept that 26,32,672 names were removed because the individuals had died, and that 3,39,278 entries were deleted due to duplication,” he said. “But the figure that raises serious concern is the 66,44,881 individuals shown as being without addresses.”
Chidambaram urged political parties to take note of the number. “Comrades from all political parties must pay attention to this figure. It is astonishing that so many people have been, or are being treated as, without addresses,” he said, adding that the priority should be to ensure that “no genuine person is removed from the voter list.”
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