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Chennai, October 28 (IANS) BJP leader K. Annamalai on Tuesday hit back at Chief Minister MK Stalin’s criticism of the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, accusing him of “gross hypocrisy” and “appalling double standards”.
He said the Chief Minister was trying to politicize a routine electoral process that has been part of India’s democratic structure for decades.
Responding to Stalin’s allegation that the SIR was a “BJP-backed conspiracy” to disenfranchise voters, Annamalai said such comments reflected the chief minister’s “hollow understanding of democratic processes”.
He told that amendment in the voter list is not a new thing, it was amended 13 times between 1952 and 2004. “This is a standard procedure initiated by the Election Commission to ensure accuracy. It is surprising that Mr. Stalin now finds fault in it,” he said in a post quoting the chief minister.
Annamalai also reminded that DMK had earlier also demanded a similar amendment. “In 2016, the DMK had alleged the presence of 57.43 lakh fake voters. Then, in 2017, it demanded a statewide amendment to link Aadhaar to voter ID cards and called for door-to-door verification,” he said.
The former state BJP president said that before the RK Nagar bypoll, Stalin himself had approached the Madras High Court to remove the names of dead and transferred voters. Annamalai commented, “The sanctity of democracy depends on the integrity of the voter list. Hopefully the DMK will remember its stand and avoid another episode of selective amnesia.”
Rejecting Stalin’s claim that the purpose of holding SIR during monsoon was to help the BJP, Annamalai said, “The Election Commission is an independent body that ensures transparency in every election. Casting aspersions on its process only shows insecurity.”
As both the DMK and BJP step up their campaigns ahead of the 2026 assembly elections, the war of words over voter list revision has deepened political polarization in Tamil Nadu, setting the stage for a fierce battle over electoral credibility and accountability.
–IANS
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