NEW DELHI: MK Stalin on Saturday backed protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, but his latest salvo was directed as much at Congress as at the Election Commission. The DMK chief accused Congress of double standards on the SIR while reminding the party of the opposition alliance’s troubles in Bihar, including seat-sharing disputes and Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s decision to contest independently.At a meeting of the DMK Parliamentary Party, Stalin-led DMK adopted four resolutions, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, extending solidarity to student protests against the SIR and seeking electoral reforms. But the resolutions also carried a pointed political message for Congress. The DMK claimed it opposed the SIR before the national opposition campaign gathered momentum, and questioned Rahul Gandhi and Congress’s credentials to challenge its record.The party said Stalin first raised his voice against the exercise in July 2025, after reports of large-scale voter deletions emerged from Bihar, where the SIR was first implemented. He also joined the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, accompanied by DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi had also claimed that his party was the first to raise the issue. In a press conference held after the Indian Express report, Rahul Gandhi said: “Whether it is due to some confusion or deliberate tampering, the Congress party was the first to raise its voice about the flaws in the SIR process and voter list deletions. When we first raised it, they called it baseless—now the truth is coming out from within the Commission itself.“At the Congress Working Committee meeting held on September 29, Rahul had said that the revelations about the poll panel were now coming out because of the party’s campaign.“The atmosphere has changed over the last two years,” Rahul had said, according to PTI sources, attributing the shift largely to the Congress’s “fact-based presentations”.”The issue is now being discussed in the media and in editorials,” he was quoted as saying.Meanwhile, te latest DMK resolution also accused Congress of taking different positions in different states, alleging that while it opposed the exercise nationally, it had not raised similar objections in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.“If irregularities have occurred during the SIR, the same concerns must apply to every state,” the resolution said, accusing Congress of hypocrisy for adopting what it described as inconsistent positions.DMK MP A Raja sharpened the attack, saying his party had been the “primary political party across India” to consistently oppose the SIR, both inside and outside Parliament, reported news agency ANI.“Ever since the SIR came into effect, as you all know, the DMK has been the primary political party across India to consistently and emphatically oppose and expose it, both inside and outside Parliament,” Raja said.He said Stalin had written to chief ministers across states and that some had visited Chennai to discuss the exercise and pass resolutions against it. Raja said the latest resolution was intended to lay out a chronological account of the DMK’s opposition and questioned whether Congress had the “moral right” to challenge the party on the issue.The DMK also brought the opposition alliance’s Bihar experience into the argument, recalling Stalin’s remarks after the 2025 Bihar assembly election results were announced on November 15.Stalin had flagged problems within the opposition alliance, including inflexibility over seat-sharing, the JMM’s decision to leave the alliance and contest independently, and constituencies where candidates from the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and Left parties fought against one another.
CEC’s removal and CJP support
The DMK’s resolutions also demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and an inquiry into his conduct, accusing him of facilitating the disenfranchisement of eligible voters through the SIR. These are allegations made by the party.The party said Stalin had warned against extending the exercise to Tamil Nadu after the Election Commission announced on October 27, 2025, that it would be conducted in 12 states, including Tamil Nadu. It also opposed conducting the revision in November and December, citing the monsoon and festive seasons.Separately, the DMK extended solidarity to student organisations protesting against the SIR and backed the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) after the arrest of its leaders.DMK MP Kanimozhi said the party had already conveyed its support to CJP following the arrests and that she attended a protest in Chennai to express solidarity on behalf of Stalin and the party.“We have already supported the CJP when the leaders were arrested, and I went to the protest that was happening in Chennai yesterday to reach out to them and say that we are standing with them on behalf of the leader and the party,” she said.The DMK also criticised Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), questioning why its chief Vijay had not spoken against the SIR or demanded Kumar’s removal despite the party’s participation in recent protests.
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The resolutions further called for the scrapping of the SIR, the use of pre-SIR electoral rolls in upcoming elections and a return to paper ballots instead of EVMs. The party said its MPs would submit a petition to the President seeking these changes.