DMK demands CEC Gyanesh Kumar's removal and a return to paper ballots, turns on Congress and TVK

The DMK on Saturday demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and an inquiry into his conduct, and asked for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to be withdrawn and paper ballots brought back.

The demands came in four resolutions adopted at a meeting of the party’s Members of Parliament chaired by party president M K Stalin at Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in Chennai. The party blamed Kumar for a revision that it says has struck eligible voters off the rolls.

A petition to the President

The DMK will make a formal representation to President Droupadi Murmu. It wants the SIR withdrawn, the coming elections held on the rolls as they stood before the revision, electronic voting machines discontinued and paper ballots restored. The party also said that running the exercise through the November-December monsoon and festive season would cause practical difficulties for voters.

A fourth resolution backed the student groups and others who have been protesting against the revision, and said the DMK would keep supporting protests against the SIR.

Shots at allies and rivals

The meeting saved some of its sharpest words for parties that share its opposition to the Election Commission. The DMK questioned how Congress could oppose the SIR at the national level while taking what it called inconsistent positions in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and said irregularities in the rolls should be tackled the same way in every state.

It said actor-politician Vijay’s TVK had neither publicly demanded Kumar’s removal nor taken a firm enough stand against the SIR. The party alleged that some Congress members were promoting the TVK for their own political gain, accused both parties of trying to mislead the public, and warned them against provoking a confrontation with the DMK.

The longer fight

Stalin has been raising the issue since July 2025, when he spoke out about voter deletions in Bihar and joined the Voter Adhikar Yatra there with Kanimozhi Karunanidhi. After the 2025 Bihar Assembly results he criticised problems within the opposition alliance but said they did not excuse the Election Commission’s alleged failures.

The SIR has led to at least 13 crore names being deleted from draft rolls. The Supreme Court, which this week issued notice on a petition by Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and other INDIA bloc leaders alleging that Kumar acted without the other two commissioners, will hear the challenges to his decisions on 27 October.