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INTERVIEW | 1 extra week not enough, BLOs scramble to meet deadline

They want to remove people who they believe will not vote for them, DMK MP Kanimozhi tells TNIE , interpreting the statement of Home Minister Amit Shah the SIR exercise is to purify electoral rolls. Excerpts: The Election Commission has extended the deadline for submitting SIR forms by a week. Is it enough? It is not sufficient. We need more time. Many people travel, and not everyone lives in their birthplace; they often return home to vote. With such short notice, they may not be able to return on time, and in states like Tamil Nadu, the administration and the government are also battling the monsoons. TN was among the first to approach the Supreme Court seeking a halt to the SIR process. Why? We are challenging the constitutionality of the entire process. This exercise effectively strips people of their voting rightsa fundamental constitutional right. Another major concern is the rushed timeline. The previous SIR exercise took more than six months. If the government were serious, it could have announced it earlier, properly trained officials, and allowed sufficient time to verify and rectify. It doesnt end with losing voting rights. This will lead to mass disenfranchisement. If people are excluded from the rolls now, will they later be treated as non-citizens? What are the consequences of that? There is also the issue of delimitation. Once rolls shrink, the number of seats allocated to states will be affected. If lakhs of names are removed from the rolls, states stand to lose even more representation. What are the concerns youre hearing from the ground in TN? There is inhuman pressure on the BLOs. Weve already seen SIR-related BLO deaths reported across states. BLOs are overworked. They have been given this additional burden without adequate time for training. Has the state government taken steps to mitigate the woes of the BLOs? We are doing everything possible, including bringing in volunteers and providing additional help, wherever necessary. There is only so much pressure we can alleviate. In many households, especially in rural areas, no one is at home during the day. Even in cities, both adults often work. Reaching people under these conditions is not easy. Another problem is that 2002 to 2004 was used as the baseline year for the voter rolls. Most people would not have those documents readily available. How can we expect everyone to produce them? Amit Shah says the SIR is to purify voter rolls and remove illegal immigrants. This is exactly what they want. They want to remove people who they believe will not vote for them, people they do not want included in their idea of this country. Anyone they consider not eligible, according to their own standards, is being targeted. In their view, this becomes another form of cleansing. But this notion of cleansing itself is deeply troubling and difficult to comprehend. TN is heading to elections shortly. Do you think the SIR process will have an impact on the results? We are being extremely vigilant. Our party leadership is on the ground, working to ensure that things proceed correctly. We have learnt lessons from the Bihar elections. Minority communities are even more vigilant, and we are trying to ensure that no one is left out. But anything happening beyond our control is outside our scope. The CJI has raised a key question: If an intruder obtains an Aadhaar card, should that person automatically be allowed to vote? How will state governments tackle such concerns? They say Aadhaar is no proof of citizenship. The EC needs additional proof. States have no say in determining citizenship, the onus lies with the MHA. The Bihar election went ahead though the SC was still hearing the SIR case. So, apart from pursuing legal remedies, what other avenues are you mulling? Our party leaders and cadres are on the ground as registered agents, doing everything to ensure nothing goes wrong, and no one is denied voting rights. But the onus is entirely on the EC to ensure that the process is fair and transparent. The AIADMK has gone to the SC in favour of the SIR. Will it impact the case? They are behaving like a B-team, echoing their masters voice. In this case, the master is BJP, and AIADMK is not just reflecting that voice, it is also amplifying it even louder. How do you see the SCs reply to the presidential reference on timelines for the president and governor? Is it a setback to TN and other opposition states? We have repeatedly said that the BJP uses governors as political tools. Although the President appoints the governors, they dont act as impartial constitutional authorities. Instead, they often behave like opposition leaders, creating obstacles for non-BJP governments in various states. This is something we must seriously examine. The DMK has consistently maintained that we do not need governors, and it is high time we reconsider this position. People need to understand why a governor who acts against the will of the people is unnecessary. As Chief Minister M K Stalin has clarified, the SC opinion in response to the presidential reference will not affect the April 8, 2025 verdict in the case of State of Tamil Nadu vs. Governor of Tamil Nadu. Do you think the INDIA bloc needs to be strengthened after the Bihar results? There have been many voices coming out criticising Congress. The opposition must remain strong, and it is our duty to safeguard democracy and uphold its secular character. The DMK is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting Indias secular democracy. CM Stalin wrote a letter to PM Modi expressing anguish over the rejection of the proposals for Metro Rail systems in Coimbatore and Madurai. Yes. We have similar projects in other cities, such as Agra and Patna. But in our case, they claim that there isnt enough population to justify certain measures. Both Coimbatore and Madurai have large floating populations. People come there from across the country for business, education, and to visit temples. This clearly would have warranted different considerations. Its unfair to apply two different yardsticks in this way.

2 Dec 2025 7:46 am