DMK, allies to move SC against SIR in TN

The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its allies in Tamil Nadu will move the Supreme Court, challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of the 2026 assembly elections, Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin said on Sunday after chairing an all-party meeting on the issue.

- Divya Chandrababu

Describing the exercise as “illegal”, the parties accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of acting as a “puppet” of the BJP-led Union government, and urged the election body to abandon SIR immediately.

“Since the Election Commission does not accept these views, there is no other way but to approach the Supreme Court to uphold the voting rights of all Tamil Nadu voters,” a resolution passed at the meeting said. “This all-party meeting also resolves that the political parties in Tamil Nadu will file a petition in the Supreme Court to save electoral democracy,” it added.

SIR, which began in Bihar, had become a major political flashpoint ahead of the state assembly elections. Opposition parties have staged protests in Parliament and alleged that ECI was acting at the behest of the BJP. The government has dismissed the protests and said that infiltrators cannot have the right to vote.

Forty-six Tamil Nadu parties participated in Sunday's meeting. The Opposition AIADMK and its allies the Bhatatiya Janata Party (BJP) and PMK and other non-NDA constituents such as S Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK), Vijay's Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) and TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) skipped the meeting.