New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK Chairman MK Stalin on Monday joined the Chorus against the Election Commission (ECI) of India on the concerns of voter deletion and irregularities in electoral roll preparation. He said that the press conference organized by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanash Kumar on Sunday “raised more questions than answering the issues exposed by the opposition India block”.Posting on X, Stalin wrote, “The interview by #CEC is raising more questions than providing answers to highlighted issues by #India BLOC.” He highlighted seven major concerns:
- Voter deletion: “When the house was calculated, how can the eligible voters have so many deleters?”
- Less new voter nominations: “Nomination of new voters is unusually low. Was young voters being properly calculated at the age of 18 on the qualifying date? Is any database compiled to track it?”
- Processive Issues: “Processes under the registration of the rules of voters, 1960 – including interrogation and two appeals – can exclude many voters in the upcoming
Bihar election Will ECI address it? , - Sir Challenges: “Will ECI consider these practical difficulties while conducting special intensive amendment (SIR) in other states?”
- Determination of deceased voters: “1 May 2025 The request presented by DMK on 17 July 2025 to remove the names of the deceased voters under the notification has not yet been implemented.”
- Aadhaar as Aadhaar: “Why is Aadhaar not accepted as one of the documents to validate a voter’s claim?”
- Transparency and voter-friendship: “If fair elections are actually the purpose of ECI, why can’t it be more transparent and voter friendly?”
Earlier in the day, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said that ECI failed to address the concerns of the “electoral manipulation” raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, which he claimed that he only strengthened doubts about the conduct of the election body.In a post on X, Siddaramaiah said, “The Election Commission of India (ECI) finally forced it not out of duty, but the Congress, India Alliance, Civil Society and even the Supreme Court forced it.He said that the ECI’s press conference “was immersed in ego,” instead of acting as a fair referee on the pole body, accusing him of appearing to read from the BJP’s script. He said, “Yesterday’s press conference did not answer the questions raised by Lop Shri – it only confirms the doubt,” he said.Siddaramaiah highlighted the discrepancies identified by Rahul Gandhi at Bangalore Central, using its data of ECI. “From that one example, it is clear that such anomalies exist in many other constituencies as well. Instead of responding, ECI tried to threaten the opposition,” he said.The CM criticized the ECI’s request on affidavits and oath to validate the electoral data, called it “absurd”, and said that the commission’s concerns about fake and duplicate voters of the commission were rejected, “nothing but an excuse to avoid responsibility.”“The truth is that, it took time for @INCIndia to highlight these irregularities as ECI itself made the data inaccessible. If this is a seat position, imagine the scale across the country, ”he said.Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanash Kumar denied all the allegations of “vote theft” made by Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday. He called the claims of prejudice “insult” to the constitution and asked Gandhi to either present an signed affidavit or apologize to the nation within seven days, saying that there was no third option.Siddaramaiah concluded that no press conference or “Grand Speech” would cover the truth and urge ECI to protect the interests of citizens.
