A consultation meeting convened by the Election Commission in Chennai on electoral roll revision work witnessed a sudden boycott on Wednesday, with representatives of TVK and several alliance parties staging a walkout.
The meeting, chaired by Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik at the Secretariat conference hall, was held ahead of the resumption of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls next month. The SIR exercise had earlier been carried out before the Assembly election, during which 74 lakh voters were removed from the rolls.
According to the schedule shared, booth rationalisation is set for November 2, and the integrated draft electoral roll will be published on November 12. Applications for inclusion, deletion and address changes can be submitted from November 12 to December 11, while the final electoral roll is to be released on January 4, 2027.
The walkout began with TVK representative Minister Nirmalkumar, who demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Congress, VCK, CPI and CPM representatives—part of the TVK alliance—also exited, followed by AAP representative Vaseekaran on the same demand.
Later, representatives of DMK, DMDK and Naam Tamilar Katchi also walked out. With nine parties leaving, only BJP, AIADMK and National People’s Party representatives remained in the meeting, where the CEO urged political parties to extend full cooperation for the revision exercise.
