Despite SIR, Poll Rolls Anomalies Galore In Egmore

CHENNAI: Errors in the electoral rolls, including families being split across different polling parts, missing photographs, duplicate entries and incorrect door numbers, continue to plague parts of the Egmore Assembly constituency under Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency, despite the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

Siva Gunasekharan, general secretary, Annai Education and Social Service Trust and longtime resident of Choolai, who had raised these issues in a complaint to the Prime Minister's Office in September 2024, said the same discrepancies persisted in the electoral rolls published after the SIR. He alleged that booth level officers (BLOs) had refused to accept his complaints during the revision process, insisting that only affected voters could submit grievances.

"I have again brought these issues to the notice of Egmore Tahsildar and Election Officer Muruganandam after the SIR, but there has been no improvement. Members of the same family are still listed at different addresses and under different polling parts. In some cases, photographs are missing from the electoral roll," he said.

He cited Natesan Nagar and Sami Pillai Street as areas where corrections had not been carried out. Confusion over old and new door numbers also continued as voters are listed under both numbers. Even at a fully demolished property at door number 40 in Sami Pillai Street of Division 58 in booths 95 and 96, names had not been deleted from the electoral roll, he alleged.

"Even after the SIR exercise, voters have been added under both the old and new door numbers. The 2005 electoral roll was accurate, but subsequent rolls have continued to carry errors," he said, adding that the problem of old and new door numbers was prevalent across Chennai.

In his 2024 representation, subsequently forwarded to the Chief Minister's Special Cell, Gunasekharan had alleged that the Election Department had failed to rectify discrepancies despite repeated complaints since 2015.

The complaints included the presence of deceased voters, deletion of eligible voters, duplicate entries, incorrect photographs and voter registrations at demolished buildings, vacant plots and non-existent addresses. He had also questioned the functioning of BLOs in booths 94, 95, 96, 97 and 98.

Gunasekharan said he had made several representations to the Greater Chennai Corporation commissioner, regional deputy commissioner, mayor and election officials, but the issues remained unresolved.

He has suggested establishing a dedicated Election Department with permanent staff instead of relying on deputed personnel and standardising door numbers across government records to eliminate confusion between old and new addresses.

Meanwhile, officials with the Election commission said that they had prepared the list after consulting with concerned voters. However, if there is any issue they can raise complaints with concerned BLOs with relevant proofs to rectify the issues, said officials.