P. Chidambaram Slams ECI Over Voter List Revisions in Bihar and Tamil Nadu, Calls Migrant Inclusion "Illegal"

As the controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar continues to heat up, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram has raised serious concerns about a parallel development in Tamil Nadu. He claimed that 6.5 lakh migrant workers have been added to Tamil Nadu’s voter list—calling the move both “alarming” and “illegal.”

Taking to social media, the Rajya Sabha MP accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of attempting to alter the "electoral character" of states, and argued that the ongoing exercise in Bihar was becoming “curiouser by the day.”

Chidambaram Connects Bihar Deletions With Tamil Nadu Additions

At the core of Chidambaram’s argument is the ECI’s recent move to delete 65 lakh names from Bihar’s draft voter rolls, which includes 36 lakh individuals marked as either “permanently migrated” or “untraceable.” He linked this massive deletion to the simultaneous addition of 6.5 lakh new voters in Tamil Nadu, a state that heads to polls next year.

“While 65 lakh voters are in danger of being disenfranchised in Bihar, the addition of 6.5 lakh voters in Tamil Nadu is both alarming and patently illegal,” he wrote, tagging the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Office in his post.

Chidambaram slammed the classification of voters as "permanently migrated," calling it an insult to migrant workers and a violation of the rights of Tamil Nadu’s electorate.

“Calling them ‘permanently migrated’ is an insult to migrant workers and a gross interference in the electorate’s right to choose its government,” he added.

“Why Should a Migrant Be Enrolled in Another State?”

The former Home Minister argued that a voter must have a fixed, legal, and permanent residence to be eligible to vote in a particular state. Since many migrant workers still have permanent homes in Bihar or other home states, he questioned how they could be legitimately enrolled in Tamil Nadu.

“A person must have a permanent legal home to be a voter. A migrant worker has such a home in Bihar. How can he or she be registered in Tamil Nadu?”

Chidambaram, who has been among the most vocal critics of the voter list revision in poll-bound Bihar, went further to accuse the Election Commission of “abusing its powers.”

“If the migrant’s family still lives in Bihar and has a permanent address there, how can that worker be considered as permanently migrated to Tamil Nadu?” he questioned.

He called for this “abuse of power” to be challenged both politically and legally.

DMK and Other Parties Echo Concerns

Chidambaram is not alone in raising red flags. The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu and several regional parties have also opposed the inclusion of migrant or “guest” workers in the state’s voter rolls.

“This is a problem in Tamil Nadu. These workers came here only for employment. Giving them voter IDs here could shift the political balance in the future,” said DMK General Secretary Duraimurugan while addressing reporters.

ECI Defends Revision Process

The opposition’s main concern in Bihar remains the risk of disenfranchisement among the state’s 7.89 crore registered voters, as a result of the large-scale deletions.

The Election Commission, however, has defended the SIR exercise. Officials said that over the past two decades, repeated voter list updates have led to a rise in duplicate entries, making a thorough revision necessary.

“The aim is to clean the rolls of duplicate or ineligible voters. It’s not a political move, but an administrative one,” the ECI has stated.