Chennai, Nov 4 (PTI) Amid staunch opposition from the ruling DMK, the exercise of SIR of electoral rolls commenced on Tuesday in Tamil Nadu and officials began door-to-door distribution of enumeration forms.
Authorities said Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will guide people in filling up the enumeration form. The house-to-house enumeration will be carried out from November 4 to December 4, 2025, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu said. The BLOs will be distributing enumeration forms and collect the filled in ones in all 234 Assembly constituencies.
An official release here said Deputy Election Commissioner Bhanu Prakash Yeturu and Director, Krishna Kumar Tiwari have arrived in Chennai and on November 4, they reviewed the SIR exercise implementation; the commencement of distribution of enumeration forms across the state.
“In continuation, the Deputy Election Commissioner will also undertake field visits to districts,” the release said.
The Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) are providing necessary instructions and guidance to BLOs, while the District Election Officers (DEOs) are overseeing and inspecting the overall implementation of the SIR activities in their respective districts.
Greater Chennai Corporation said the exercise to distribute forms to 40,04,694 electors in 16 Assembly constituencies in the city through 3,718 BLOs has commenced and filled in forms will be received within the deadline of December 4. GCC requested the people to use the toll free number of 1950 to get their doubts cleared.
Meanwhile, the DMK, in its plea before the Supreme Court against the SIR, has dubbed it a “de facto NRC” and has challenged its constitutional validity. The ruling party has sought the quashing of the Election Commission’s notification on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) dated October 27, 2025.
The main opposition, AIADMK, an ally of the BJP supports the exercise.
According to the CEO’s office, the Booth Level Officers will visit every household to distribute partially pre-filled enumeration forms in duplicate to all existing electors and guide them in filling up the form.
“If BLO finds that any house is locked or closed, she/he shall make at least three visits. Electors may also download their Enumeration Forms and submit the filled-in forms online,” an official release from the office of the CEO said.
The dates of the visits of the BLOs will be shared in advance and widely publicised in the locality of the Electoral Registration Officers. BLOs will collect the filled out forms and provide an acknowledgement in one copy of the Enumeration Form, which will be retained by the elector.
Official sources said the exercise has commenced, adding there is some hesitancy among some personnel in going forward with the drive as the ruling party has approached the top court against the SIR.
Further, the online submissions will also be verified by the BLOs during their house visits. Authorities requested the electors to fill up the details like their names or names of their family members such as parents or grandfather/mother in the electoral rolls of the previous SIR.
“The BLOs will assist the electors in filling these details. The names of all the electors who have submitted their duly filled enumeration forms to the BLO during the house-to-house enumeration period will be included in the draft electoral roll, which will be published on December 9, 2025. This will include names of electors who have submitted the filled and signed forms online also.” In case any elector is unable to submit their filled in enumeration form within the specified time, he/she may file Form 6, along with prescribed declaration form for inclusion during the claims and objections period, which is from December 9, 2025 to January 8, 2026.
The final electoral roll will be published on February 7 after all claims and objections are considered. The electors can file an appeal on any decision of the Electoral Registration Officers to the District Magistrate under the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and a second appeal against the decision of the first Appellate Authority to the CEO in the manner prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
So far, 39 meetings on SIR of Electoral Rolls have been conducted at District Election Officer level which were attended by 932 representatives of recognised political parties. At the Electoral Registration Officer level, 241 meetings were conducted, which were attended by 3,346 representatives of recognised political parties.
The DMK’s writ peition in the apex court said: “It is humbly submitted that a combined reading of the Constitution of India, the ROPA with the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, the Citizenship Act reveals that the burden of establishing citizenship rests with State and not the individual.” “As such, whether or not a person is an Indian citizen can only be assessed/determined by the union government and not the respondent (Election Commission). Its constitutional and statutory mandate is to prepare and revise electoral rolls for the conduct of elections. By imposing citizenship-like burdens of proof, the SIR appears to be acting beyond its statutory purpose, effectively functioning as a de facto National Register of Citizens (NRC), ” it said. PTI VGN VIJ VGN SA
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