A Chennai electoral roll revision meeting broke down on Monday after DMK, Congress, CPI and CPM representatives walked out of the session at Ripon Buildings, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The meeting was convened to discuss the special summary revision of electoral rolls, with January 1, 2027 set as the qualifying date, as well as changes to polling station arrangements across Chennai’s 16 Assembly constituencies.
The meeting was chaired by Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner and district election officer G S Sameeran. According to the report, DMK and Congress representatives left after the commissioner entered the hall, while CPI and CPM members also refused to participate. The parties said they would not attend meetings related to the revision process until their demand concerning the Chief Election Commissioner was addressed.
S K Siva, South Chennai district secretary of the Communist Party of India, said the participants raised the resignation demand after the purpose of the meeting was announced. He alleged that no action had been taken against the Chief Election Commissioner over what the parties described as irregularities in the special intensive revision process.
The latest walkout follows a similar disruption at an all-party meeting held at the state secretariat on October 23. Members of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, DMK, Congress and other parties had then raised the same demand and left the meeting. The repeated protests have placed the conduct of electoral-roll revision meetings in Chennai at the centre of a wider dispute between opposition parties and the Election Commission.
The Ripon Buildings meeting also included details of proposed changes to polling station arrangements. The number of polling stations in Chennai is set to fall from 4,079 to 4,071. The changes include the reduction of one polling station in Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar, the merger of five polling stations in Chepauk-Triplicane, and the merger of two each in Thousand Lights and Mylapore constituencies.
These changes affect the administrative map through which voters access polling facilities. The meeting was intended to examine the proposed arrangements ahead of the next stage of electoral-roll revision, but the walkout prevented the participating parties from taking part in the discussion, according to the report.
The dispute also relates to voter deletions reported during the earlier revision exercise. Data released by the Election Commission of India in December 2025 reportedly showed that more than 97 lakh votes had been deleted in Tamil Nadu, including 14 lakh in Chennai. The political parties have linked their demand for the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation to alleged irregularities in that process.
DMK deputy general secretary and MP Kanimozhi told the Times of India that the party had repeatedly communicated its position. She said the party planned to meet the President and raise the issue. The next steps in the electoral-roll revision process and the proposed polling-station changes remain with the election authorities.
