Chennai, February 27 – Terming the recently concluded Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu as a model for the country and a great success, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said on Friday that parties in the state have suggested holding Assembly polls in a single phase, and a decision on it would be taken after considering all the factors.
The Election Commission’s decision on the “phasing” of polls will be known once the election schedule is announced, he said, adding that the Tamil Nadu Assembly election will set a record in improving the polls in Bihar.
Addressing a press conference here, the Chief Election Commissioner said: "The key takeaway from Bihar is that it has been the most flawless elections held in recent decades, and I have been assured by all the collectors, SPs, and the entire electoral machinery, including enforcement agencies, that Tamil Nadu is going to set records and will be much better than Bihar."
On the recently concluded SIR of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, he lauded it as a model for the country and a great success, and that it ensured cleaner rolls. He said that it demonstrated the professionalism of the election commission officials in ensuring cleaner rolls, in response to certain political parties’ criticism that the exercise resulted in mass deletion of voters' names.
He said that although 100 per cent voting is not mandatory as per law, Tamil Nadu's voting has been "highly encouraging and politically conscious."
The top poll official assured amenities in 75,000 polling stations across the state. On the vote counting exercise, he said that mandatory VVPAT counting shall take place, and even after counting is over, any candidate, on fee payment, can match EVM with VVPAT during the next 7 days. Amongst the new initiatives, one major was that postal ballots will be counted 2 rounds before the EVM rounds.
The CEC praised Tamil Nadu’s "glorious past in democracy" and he said the state's ancient 'Kudavolai' system of polls was proudly mentioned by them in a conference.
He contended that pure electoral rolls were the bedrock of democracy and congratulated all the officials, including BLOs who had helped to make the SIR a great success in the state.
"The upcoming election will have a higher inclusive focus on youth. There will be 3,600 dedicated assistant electoral registration officers for campaigns in colleges. Tamil Nadu will witness over 12.5 lakh voters aged 18-19 years, and there were one crore young voters in the 20-29 age bracket," he said.
Arrangements will be made to provide polling stations on the ground floor for the benefit of senior citizens and physically challenged.
Tamil Nadu will have 258 women-managed polling stations, 47 disabled-friendly polling stations and 265 model polling stations.
In order to ensure a good voting experience for the electorate, the EVMs will have colour photographs of the candidates and larger fonts to help the voters to identify their candidates.
"Each polling station will accommodate 1,200 electors. Voters information slips will be like an invitation asking the people to come vote, and on its right side the booth numbers will be clearly indicated," he said.
The entire process of polling will be webcast through the ECINET, which will contain all information about the election, candidates, affidavits, polling stations, voter turnout and even the results. Even the voting percentage will be constantly uploaded on this centralized digital platform. The ECINET app could be downloaded on mobile.
"I hope that the promise of holding inducement-free, transparent, and fair and memorable model elections of Tamil Nadu will be showcased by our machinery to the entire country and the world," Kumar said and added that the political parties had assured the election commission to ensure the election was inducement-free.
To a question on permitting online filing of nomination by the candidates seeking to contest in the election, he replied that, as per law, the nominations should be submitted on time in person. "I think the festival of democracy will take precedence," he added.
The CEC had reviewed the poll preparedness for the forthcoming election to Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly along with senior police officials, district collectors who are district election officers, state government officials, and heads of enforcement agencies in the state.
Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, senior deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar, and Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik, too participated.
During the two-day review which concluded today, the ECI officials interacted with the representatives of recognised national and state political parties, and booth level officers.
Earlier, the CEC honoured the BLOs of Tamil Nadu for their dedicated contribution during the Special Intensive Revision 2026 and interacted with them. He presented the EPIC cards to the first-time voters during the poll preparedness review in Tamil Nadu, reaffirming the Commission’s unwavering commitment in enhancing youth participation in the democratic process.
Jyothikalai, a PwD icon of the election commission, was honoured on the occasion in recognition of her inspiring contribution to inclusive electoral participation.