DMK's Comprehensive Strategy to Monitor Electoral Roll Revision in Tamil Nadu

Chennai:

While the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the party has simultaneously implemented a comprehensive ground-level and legal strategy to monitor and challenge the process throughout Tamil Nadu.

The DMK, having accused the Election Commission of procedural failures in conducting the SIR, has activated its senior leadership, legal experts, and booth-level workers to safeguard voters' rights and prevent legitimate names from being removed from the electoral rolls.

Party sources reveal that the DMK has organized Tamil Nadu into eight zones, each led by a prominent leader - KN Nehru, EV Velu, A Raja, Thangam Thennarasu, MRK Panneerselvam, Sakkarapani, Senthil Balaji, and Kanimozhi - who serve as zonal in-charges supervising SIR activities.

District secretaries and constituency observers have attended special briefings in Chennai, while union, town, and village-level officials have received specialized legal training on the SIR process from advocate teams. These training sessions aim to enable local cadres to detect irregularities and assist voters through verification and enumeration procedures.

At the community level, booth committees have been established and trained at every polling station to gather and verify voter information. The party headquarters has distributed standardized forms and deployed a dedicated digital application to enhance data collection efficiency.

Each zone has been assigned a dedicated legal team, under the overall coordination of senior advocate and MP NR Elango, to provide prompt legal assistance and guidance.

The party has established an SIR Help Desk at its Anna Arivalayam headquarters in Chennai, complete with a public helpline number. Complaints and inquiries received are immediately forwarded to the appropriate zonal in-charges and legal teams for resolution. Furthermore, the headquarters is conducting state-wide follow-up calls to ensure proper SIR implementation across all regions while compiling detailed reports on ground realities.

In a notable initiative, the DMK has directed its local functionaries to ensure that names of recent party joiners under the Tamil Nadu in One Alliance are properly included in the electoral rolls.

Party insiders characterize this approach as a "dual strategy - legal resistance and field vigilance" designed to protect the voting rights of all eligible citizens in Tamil Nadu.