The Greater Chennai Corporation on Friday released the draft electoral rolls for the city’s 16 Assembly constituencies, revealing an unprecedented contraction in the voter base, with over 14.25 lakh names—more than one-third of the electorate—deleted during the Special Intensive Revision, bringing the total number of registered voters down to 25.79 lakh. The voter base has shrunk sharply from 40.04 lakh to 25.79 lakh, marking a 35.5% reduction from the previous electoral list, with several constituencies regarded as strongholds of the ruling DMK emerging among the worst affected.
Sharp Decline Across Key Chennai Constituencies
Among all assembly segments in the city, Anna Nagar has emerged as the most impacted, registering a staggering 42.18 percent reduction in voters. Data from the SIR exercise shows that the bulk of deletions in Anna Nagar were attributed to residents who had permanently shifted, accounting for nearly 1.08 lakh names, as per a report on The New Indian Express. The remaining deletions included deceased voters, duplicate entries, and just one individual classified as absent or untraceable.
Other prominent constituencies have seen similarly steep declines. Villivakkam, Thousand Lights, T Nagar, and Velachery have each lost more than 40 percent of their electorate. In these areas, voters were removed under categories such as shifted residence, death, and absence, pointing to large-scale demographic churn within the city.
DMK Strongholds Not Spared
Several politically significant constituencies have also recorded heavy deletions. Virugambakkam saw its electorate shrink by 38.8 percent, while Harbour and Chepauk–Thiruvallikeni registered declines of 38.7 percent and 37.2 percent respectively.
Chepauk–Thiruvallikeni is currently represented by Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, adding a political dimension to the figures emerging from the revision exercise.
Why So Many Names Were Removed
Citywide data shows that the largest category of deletions involved voters who had permanently shifted with over 12 lakh voters. This was followed by 1.5 lakh names removed due to death, 27,000 voters marked as absent or untraceable, and 18,000 duplicate entries.
An additional 199 voters were removed under the “other” category, which includes individuals who failed to return mandatory forms.
Election Officials Announce Corrective Measures
In response to concerns over the large-scale deletions, Chief Electoral Officer Kumaragurubaran has announced special camps across Chennai on December 20 and 21, operating from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
During these camps, citizens can submit Forms 6, 7, and 8 to seek inclusion, correction of details, or raise objections to the draft electoral rolls.
