Over half of elector deletions in T.N. concentrated in eight districts in two clusters

More than half of the total voters excluded from the integrated draft electoral roll following the implementation of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Tamil Nadu were from just two clusters of eight districts, four in the north of the state and four in the western region (one in the southwest region).

For this analysis, Chennai and its neighboring districts such as Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu were grouped as one cluster, while Tiruppur and its neighboring districts such as Coimbatore, Erode and Dindigul were grouped as another cluster.

A quarter of the total voters in the Chennai cluster were removed, reducing the number of voters from 1.17 crore to 87.54 lakh, spread across 37 Assembly segments. Similarly, 19.42% voters were recorded to have been excluded in 33 Assembly segments falling under the Tiruppur cluster. A total of 18.64 lakh voters were removed out of 96.01 lakh. 50.17% of the total voters were excluded from these eight districts.

Although these two clusters saw the highest expulsions, the impact on their share of Tamil Nadu’s total voter base was relatively limited. Two clusters continue to dominate the voter base. Before the SIR implementation, their total voter share was 33.34%. According to the draft, this rate dropped to 30.33%.

While the Chennai cluster’s share in the overall voter base dropped from 18.37% to 16.1%, the Tiruppur cluster remained fairly stable around 14%. Experts pointed out that one of the reasons for the high deletion rates in these districts may be the density of the voter base.

Venkatesh Athreya, development economist and former professor at Bharathidasan University, said one of the possible reasons for the large-scale deletions in the two clusters is the high concentration of migrant workers associated with larger industrial activities. Many of these workers may have previously registered with the districts but later returned to the villages or towns where they came to work in Tamil Nadu, especially during the COVID-19 period.