With the Claims and Objections period under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Tamil Nadu set to end on January 18, more than 12.8 lakh electors have submitted Forms 6 and 6A seeking inclusion of their names.

The period began on December 19, 2025, when the draft electoral roll was published after the enumeration phase. Due to the SIR, nearly 97.37 lakh electors out of 6.41 crore were deleted, reducing the size of the electorate in the State to 5.43 crore. According to data from the Election Commission, more than 32,000 forms have been submitted by electors seeking exclusion from the roll.

Although the six national and six State parties together have 2.72 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs), with the DMK, the AIADMK and the BJP having more than 60,000 agents each, only a little over 100 applications were filed by the parties’ seeking inclusion and exclusion in the draft roll.

Sources in the Dravidian majors said while BLAs were authorised to file claims and objections with a prescribed declaration, they preferred to play a facilitator role in helping electors file the forms, as they felt it was relatively a simple process.

Sources in the DMK IT Wing, which coordinated the exercise, said its network of nearly 68,000 BLAs and an equal number of Booth Digital Agents (BDAs) worked at the booth level to help electors locate their names in the 2002 and 2005 SIR rolls and in filling the forms.

Supporting electors

DMK IT Wing secretary and Industries Minister T.R.B. Rajaa, in a response sent through his team, said: “Even while being the only party that raised concerns about the pace of the SIR process in Tamil Nadu, the DMK also helped people who risked losing their right to vote and supported the Booth Level Officers, who were under huge mental stress due to the workload.” He said BDAs, who were equipped with modern technological tools, tracked the draft rolls, identified missing names, and helped electors fill enumeration forms.

The AIADMK, which supported the roll-cleaning exercise, held several rounds of meetings and appointed district-wise and constituency-wise functionaries to oversee the process.

I.S. Inbadurai, the party’s advocates wing secretary and Rajya Sabha Member, said the party’s BLAs worked intensively at the booth level during the enumeration phase and after the publication of the draft roll. The functionaries at various levels held a series of meetings to coordinate the entire process.

“Through our party network, our BLAs traced electors who were shifted or absent from the draft roll and helped them get enrolled. We hope that the final roll will be clean,” he added.