Chennai’s electorate has witnessed a dramatic reduction following the publication of the draft electoral rolls, with the total number of voters shrinking from about 40.04 lakh on October 27, 2025, to 25.79 lakh as on December 19.
This marks an overall fall of 35.6 per cent, one of the steepest revisions recorded in the city’s electoral history.
District Election Officer J. Kumaragurubaran attributed the deletion of 14.25 lakh voters to multiple factors, including deaths, voters being untraceable or absent during verification, permanent migration, duplicate enrolments, and a smaller number of other technical reasons. The large-scale revision follows the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision process aimed at cleansing electoral rolls ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Among Assembly constituencies, Anna Nagar recorded the highest decline, with its electorate dropping by 42.2 per cent—from 2,80,422 voters earlier to 1,62,135 in the draft roll. It was followed by T. Nagar (40.8%), Thousand Lights (40.7%), Villivakkam (40.6%), and Velachery (40.2%). At the other end of the spectrum, RK Nagar saw the lowest reduction at 24 per cent, with its voter count coming down from 2.35 lakh to 1.78 lakh.
The constituency-wise data also reveals significant category-based deletions. Velachery recorded the highest number of voters classified as permanently shifted, at 1.10 lakh, and also topped in deletions due to deaths, with 13,429 names removed. Kolathur reported the highest number of voters marked untraceable or absent, with 8,812 deletions under this category. Thiru Vi Ka Nagar led in duplicate entries, with 1,869 voters found enrolled elsewhere and subsequently deleted.
Officials maintain that the exercise is aimed at ensuring an accurate and transparent electoral roll. However, political parties and civil society groups have urged eligible voters to verify their names and make necessary corrections within the stipulated period to avoid disenfranchisement.
