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Chennai, Nov 18 (IANS) Nam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) on Tuesday staged a massive protest at the Egmore Rajarathinam Stadium alleging massive irregularities and lack of transparency in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list.
NTK chief coordinator Seeman led the protest, sharply criticizing the Election Commission of India (ECI) and questioning the credibility of the entire vetting process.
Addressing a large gathering of activists, Seeman accused the ECI of “years of gross negligence” in maintaining accurate and reliable voter lists.
He pointed out that the Commission has repeatedly failed to respond to complaints raised regarding duplicate and fake voters during several election cycles.
“Did you come to know about the fake votes only in 2024? What were you doing all these years?” he asked, alleging that the sudden identification of anomalies has cast doubt on the timing and intention behind the current SIR exercise.
Reacting to the BJP-led central government’s recent claim that over 4,500 fake voters were identified in Chief Minister MK Stalin’s Kolathur constituency, Seeman questioned the selective focus of the claims.
“The BJP is highlighting only Kolathur while ignoring similar irregularities in many other constituencies, which raises suspicion. Why target only one seat?” He pointed to political motives rather than a genuine effort to purge voter rolls.
Seeman further alleged that all political parties are enabling “vote-bank politics” by allowing non-residents and migrant workers to be included in the voter list without proper regional verification.
He warned that such practices were undermining public confidence in the democratic process.
Urging the public to remain alert, he said, “Vote is the last weapon of the people. If that too is tampered with, democracy will collapse.”
NTK demanded that the Election Commission conduct the SIR process in a transparent, equitable and fair manner, free from interference by any political party or government.
The party stressed that restoring confidence in the electoral system should be the Commission’s top priority. With several parties expressing concerns over work pressure on officials, district-level discrepancies and alleged political influence in the SIR process, the NTK protest marks another escalation in the growing tension around the state’s voter list revision exercise.
–IANS
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