Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief C Joseph Vijay

Alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) have stirred protests not just at the national but at the State level too. In Tamil Nadu, DMK president and former Chief Minister MK Stalin has recently said that the deletion of several lakh voters was one of the reasons for his party’s loss. The social media is abuzz about how TVK victory may have been aided by these deletions.

A businessline analysis of the granular data on SIR deletions and the outcome of the TN assembly elections in 2026, throws us some interesting trends. TVK has struggled to win in constituencies where the SIR deletions were lower but has recorded more wins in constituencies where the deletions were higher. Political analysts and experts however warn that not much should be read into these numbers.

The numbers

We compared the net reduction in voter count in each constituency as per the April 2026 electoral roll with pre-SIR numbers. Of the total 234 constituencies, 19 constituencies had lower deletions, of up to 10,000 voters. In these, the TVK won 2 seats, the DMK 7, the AIADMK 6 and others 4.

Eighty constituencies had deletions between 10,000 to 20,000 voters. The TVK won 22 of these constituencies, the DMK 20, the AIADMK 24 and others 14.

Sixty-six constituencies had deletions between 20,000 to 30,000. Of these, the TVK won 32 seats, the DMK 21, the AIADMK 11 and others 2.

The trend tilts in TVK’s favour as deletions increase. Of the 37 constituencies that had deletions between 30,000 and 50,000 voters, the TVK won 24, the DMK 8 and the AIADMK 5

There were 22 constituencies in which deletions were between 50,000 to 80,000 voters. The TVK won 18 of them, the DMK 3 and the AIADMK 1.

Ten constituencies had more than 80,000 deletions. The TVK won all of them.

On average, there have been about 27,000 deletions in constituencies in which the AIADMK won in the 2021 Assembly elections. In constituencies where DMK won in 2021, the average deletions have been about 31,000.

Experts’ take

Badri Seshadri, political analyst, said, “I don’t believe it is possible to selectively delete voters of one political party. There is no scientific basis on which it can even be brought up. Field agents of both these two parties were there already. They never raised any complaints. Whereas in West Bengal, there were repeated complaints. But here, no complaints from the ground. That’s all I can say.”

Politicians’ take

Saying that DMK voters were selectively targeted, P Wilson, Member of Parliament, DMK, said, “They wanted to eliminate the DMK from the frame. This is a complete conspiracy of the Election Commission of India.”

Vivek Gananathan, the TVK’s national spokesperson, however, rebutted saying, “I find the correlation to be just a coincidental reading or an incidental truth, but not the actual reality. There is nothing more to be looked into. The DMK, and even the ADMK, have lost their traditional voters to us as people have lost hope in their leadership.”

Published on October 5, 2026