Tamil Nadu's Voting Rights Battle: Why 49 Parties Are Taking SIR to Supreme Court

Sharing an X post, MK Stalin announced the resolution and alleged that the intent behind the SIR exercise is to snatch away the voting rights of the people.

He wrote, "It is the duty of all parties to unite and raise their voices against the SIR being hastily implemented with the intent of snatching away the voting rights of the people of Tamil Nadu and murdering democracy."

"Regarding the confusions and doubts in the voter list revisions - since our demand that they should be conducted after the 2026 general elections with adequate time and without any issues has not been accepted by the ECI, we have passed a resolution in today's all-party meeting to approach the Supreme Court," he added.

Stalin also thanked the 49 parties which participated in the meeting to "protect democracy."

"I express my thanks to the leaders of the 49 parties who participated in the all-party meeting and registered their feelings. I request those who did not participate in this meeting to discuss SIR in their parties and take initiatives to protect democracy," the X post read.

DMK leader RS Bharathi called the SIR an exercise to "indirectly" do a National Register of Citizens (NRC).

He said, "We are opposing this because it is being implemented with an ulterior motive. This is not SIR. This is indirectly getting into the NRC. We are moving to the Supreme Court."

Hitting at the parties that did not participate in the meeting, Bharathi called them "the BJP's alliance."

"We don't care for them. They are all in the BJP alliance. Therefore, they didn't come," he said.

DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan said, "Let the court issue its final order. After that, they can proceed with the SIR. That is what we wanted, and this is the resolution. The purpose of the resolution is that the election commissioners should not act on their own in SIR..."

Slamming Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) for not attending the all-party meeting, he said, "What can we do? We had called the TVK, but they didn't come. Many parties had come, but a few didn't want to antagonise the BJP. Maybe that's why they didn't come."

CPI(M) Polit Bureau Member U Vasuki lauded the "democratic process" to draft the resolution.

He said, "The original draft of the resolution was corrected after hearing the opinions and comments of other political parties. So that was a very democratic process. Through the Supreme Court, we will wage a legal battle, and we will also go to the people, because without the people's participation, nothing can be stopped. So we will approach people as part of our campaign against this."

"They have already made a decision. The BJP and AIADMK are in the same alliance. If TVK doesn't turn up for this meeting, we can understand what their political position is," she added.

While the TVK did not attend the meeting, the party issued a statement, condemning the SIR exercise.

"The Election Commission of India has announced that a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls will be carried out in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, when a similar announcement was made in Bihar, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) strongly opposed it and warned about its hidden motives. Just as we cautioned then, names of lakhs of voters were removed from the rolls in Bihar, with opposition parties alleging that the deletions targeted certain communities, including religious minorities. Moreover, a case related to the special intensive revision is currently pending before the Supreme Court of India," TVK said in the statement.

TVK hit back at DMK for not passing a Kerala-like resolution in the Assembly against the SIR of the electoral roll in Tamil Nadu.

"The Kerala Government, our neighbouring state, has passed a resolution in the Legislative Assembly opposing the special intensive revision -- a move that reflects its commitment to protecting citizens' rights. However, despite claiming to strongly oppose the SIR, the DMK has not passed any such resolution in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Why is that?" TVK asked.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) will conduct the second phase of Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls across 12 States and Union Territories, with the final voter list to be published on February 7, 2026, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said.

The exercise will cover Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is hearing a case against the first phase of SIR in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections in the State.

- ANI