Actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi president and MP Thol Thirumavalavan have approached the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission’s decision to conduct a special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, Live Law reported on Monday.

As part of the special intensive revision, the Election Commission began distributing enumeration forms to voters on November 4 in 12 states and Union Territories, including Tamil Nadu.

The draft electoral rolls will be published on December 9. Voters can file claims and objections between December 9 and January 8, and hearings will be held until January 31. The final electoral rolls are to be published on February 7.

The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, in its petition, has argued that the special intensive revision of voter rolls violates the principles of equality before law and right to life, and contradicts the Representation of the People Act, Live Law reported.

The party said that the exercise amounts to preparing the electoral rolls anew without recorded reasons or justification.

The petition also said that the process “violates the right of continuity of electors on rolls by allowing deletion of names without notice or hearing” and is against the Supreme Court precedents and statutory safeguards under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

It also flagged procedural difficulties that may arise during the exercise.

The timing of the revision coincides with the possibility of floods, when government staff and booth-level officers may be diverted for relief work, the petition said.

In a separate petition under Article 32, Thirumavalavan has sought quashing of the Election Commission’s October 27 notification initiating the revision in Tamil Nadu, Live Law reported.

He described the special intensive revision of voter rolls as “arbitrary, opaque and unconstitutional”, alleging violations of the rights to equality, dignity and universal adult franchise.

The petition argued that launching an intensive revision less than a year before Assembly elections raises the risk of large-scale deletions, especially among marginalised groups.

Thirumavalavan said in his petition that the design and timing of the exercise disproportionately burden Dalits, Adivasis, migrant workers, women who relocate after marriage, the working class, persons with disabilities and those without stable documentation or digital access, Live Law reported.

The petition also said that Tamil Nadu completed a special summary revision between October 2024 and January, with updated rolls published on January 6 and continuously maintained since.

It added that the Election Commission has offered no justification for initiating a fresh statewide intensive revision so close ahead of the Assembly elections, Live Law reported.

Earlier this month, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam moved the Supreme Court against the exercise, describing it as “constitutional overreach”.

The DMK’s petition had claimed that the exercise could lead to the large-scale disenfranchisement of voters.

In Bihar, where the revision was completed ahead of the Assembly elections in November, at least 47 lakh voters were excluded from the final electoral roll published on September 30.

Concerns had been raised after the announcement in Bihar that the exercise could remove eligible voters from the roll. Several petitioners also moved the Supreme Court against it.