Chennai: The city’s electoral results have long been decided by a thin slice of voters — barely a 60% turnout, with some constituencies recording as low as 50%. Yet, these have been enough to deliver photo-finish results in several seats, even in polls that were not determined by any electoral waves.This time, there’s a new unease. With 30%-35% of names struck off under the SIR drive in key constituencies, political parties are watching nervously, even after racing to bring voters back through Form 6. From 40 lakh voters, the city’s first draft roll was reduced to 25.7 lakh. After claims from the public, the final tally reached 28.3 lakh voters. Overall, more than 30% of names were deleted from the rolls.The highest percentage of voters (35 each) was removed from Thousand Lights, Anna Nagar, T Nagar and Harbour — all of which have had tight contests in the past, with victory margins below 5,000 votes in some elections. While the GCC says the deletions cover only deceased and those who’ve moved out, on the ground, candidates aren’t taking chances. They say real issues might arise only during the polling day and when the results are announced.Thousand Lights MLA Dr N Ezhilan said a lot of voters’ names were originally removed in the draft, but DMK cadres helped local authorities add the missed-out voters to the best of their ability via Form 6. “Yet, in tight contests, even a small section of voters being left out may have an impact in certain seats. The impact will be known only during polling day, when voters arrive to vote but find their names missing,” said Ezhilan, adding that he hopes for a turnout of more than 80% in his constituency. The Union govt should have taken up the drive after the elections. “In 2003-04, it took them seven months to finish SIR. Now, they completed it within a few months, and it was haphazardly done, he said.J Karunanidhi, MLA of T Nagar, where he won by a margin of 137 votes, said the SIR’s impact will be felt in some seats. “We went door to door to add all our party and associated voters. Yet, we missed some, as they weren’t home during our visits. While I expect an 80%-90% turnout, the leftover voters matter greatly in a three-way fight.”After the clean-up, Harbour remains the smallest constituency with 1.16 lakh voters, reduced from 1.8 lakh. An AIADMK member in the constituency said a party may just need 40,000 votes to win in a three-way fight, making the contest tougher. In the core city, Velachery remains the biggest seat with 2.11 lakh voters, despite a 33% removal of voters.The SIR drive may also pose a bigger threat to smaller parties such as NTK and TVK. Fathima Farhana, NTK state youth-wing coordinator, said DMK and AIADMK function with established vote banks. “NTK, and other newer parties, might rely on new voters and the general public. Deletions might affect NTK more, as some people might find their names removed only during voting,” she said.If the roll clean-up has worked as intended, turnout could spike sharply, even touching 90%. Either way, in a city used to close calls, the voter list itself may end up shaping the verdict in some seats.
