Chennai: Even as the controversy over special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar rages, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has brought up another issue, concerning Tamil Nadu.
The four-time former Union Finance minister and Home minister claimed that 6.5 lakh “migrant workers” have been added as voters in Tamil Nadu, and called it “alarming” and “illegal”.
The Rajya Sabha MP accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of trying to change the “electoral character” of states, observing that the SIR exercise in Bihar was getting “curiouser” by the day.
According to ECI data, 65 lakh voters have been dropped from the draft electoral rolls in Bihar, That includes 36 lakh voters who have migrated permanently or were untraceable.
Linking the Bihar exercise to addition of voters in Tamil Nadu, Chidambaram tweeted: “While 65 lakh voters are in danger of being disenfranchised in Bihar, report of adding 6.5 lakh persons as voters in Tamil Nadu is alarming and patently illegal.”
“Calling them ‘permanently migrated’ is an insult to the migrant workers and a gross interference in the right of the electorate of Tamil Nadu to elect a government of its choice,” Chidambaram posted on X, tagging the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
Assembly election in Tamil Nadu is due in the first half of 2026.
Chidambaram posed a basic question — why should a migrant worker not return to Bihar or his home state to vote in the respective state assembly elections.
“A person to be enrolled as a voter must have a fixed and permanent legal home. The migrant worker has such a home in Bihar (or another state). How can he/she be enrolled as a voter in Tamil Nadu?” Chidambaram wrote.
“If the migrant worker’s family has a permanent home in Bihar and lives in Bihar, how can the migrant worker be considered as ‘permanently migrated’ to Tamil Nadu?” he went on, accusing the ECI of “abusing” its powers.
Chidambaram opined that such abuse of powers by ECI must be fought politically and legally.
Tamil Nadu’s ruling party DMK and regional parties have also spoken out against the addition of “guest workers” to the Tamil Nadu voter list.
“This is a problem in Tamil Nadu as they came to work here as guest workers. But giving them voter IDs in Tamil Nadu will result in political change in the future,” DMK general secretary Duraimurugan said.