TVK, Oppn walk out of EC meeting in TN

Chennai: Representatives of Tamil Nadu’s ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led alliance and the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) walked out of an all-party meeting convened by the Election Commission on Friday to discuss the special summary revision (SSR) of electoral rolls, demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the previous special intensive revision (SIR).

Tamil Nadu minister for energy resources and law CTR Nirmal Kumar said the TVK had opposed the SIR from the beginning and alleged that the exercise had led to massive errors in the electoral rolls.

“If it was not conducted, the TVK would have won in more than 160 [of 234] seats in the April 23 assembly polls,” he said.

“In continuation of that, demanding that he take responsibility, we sought chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation,” the minister said after the walkout.

He added that the demand for Kumar’s resignation was gaining strength and the Election Commission of India (ECI) must ensure elections were conducted with utmost fairness. The TVK also said the new revision should not proceed until anomalies in the previous exercise were rectified.

DMK legal wing secretary I Paranthamen questioned the removal of more than 7.4 million voters from Tamil Nadu’s electoral rolls during the SIR and asked what measures the poll panel had taken to address the issue.

“Over 74 lakh voters were removed from the electoral rolls during the final SIR process. Where have they gone? Have they been deported or are they no longer residing in India and Tamil Nadu? The EC has provided no answer. Any exercise conducted under the current CEC is an eyewash and a futile exercise. He should either step down voluntarily or be removed constitutionally,” he said.

“After presenting our views to Patnaik, we staged a walkout from the meeting,” Paranthaman added.

A Congress representative also confirmed the party’s decision to walk out, citing a lack of trust in the poll panel and concerns over the election commissioners.

The AIADMK and the BJP, however, attended the meeting chaired by Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer Archana Patnaik. The AIADMK raised concerns over nearly 9.7 million voters flagged or affected during the SIR, including those reported deceased or shifted, and sought a transparent review of the entries.

Senior AIADMK leader and former minister D Jayakumar explained why his party had attended the meeting despite other parties walking out. “Whether to stage a walkout or participate is a party’s democratic right. We chose to participate to place concrete facts on record,” Jayakumar said.

The ECI has ordered an SSR of electoral rolls in 17 states and Union territories, with January 1 as the qualifying date. Unlike the SIR, which rebuilds electoral rolls from scratch, the SSR makes incremental corrections and is intended as an annual exercise.