Of the 1,906 voters who were earlier listed across the five booths, only 79 voters are now shown as residing in Manjolai.
Published Dec 19, 2025 | 7:53 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 23, 2025 | 7:53 PM
Manjolai voter
Synopsis: The Election Commission has removed 1,827 voters from the electoral rolls in Manjolai in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district following the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Despite objections from residents, the district administration has declared them as having permanently migrated out, leaving only 79 voters listed in the hill region.
The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission has removed 1,827 voters from the Manjolai hills in Tirunelveli district, declaring them as persons who have “permanently migrated out” of the area, following the recently concluded Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the State.
As South First had earlier reported, the residents of Manjolai, located in the Ambasamudram Assembly constituency, have for years been fighting not only to safeguard their rights as citizens but also against the systemic erasure of their four-generation-long presence in the hill region.
Manjolai earlier had five polling stations. These included Manjolai West (Booth No. 98), a combined booth for the Kakachi and Nalumukku estates (Booth No. 99), Nalumukku East (Booth No. 100), Oothu (Booth No. 101) and Kuthiraivetti (Booth No. 102).
Following a recent reshuffle exercise, these five polling stations were reduced to three: Manjolai (106), Nalumukku (107) and Oothu (108).
Of the 1,906 voters who were earlier listed across the five booths, the Election Commission has now deleted 1,827 voters from the rolls, categorising them as having permanently left the area. As per the draft electoral roll, only 79 voters are now shown as residing in Manjolai.
During the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted between November 4 and December 14, a total of 1,182 applications were filled and submitted by voters to Booth Level Officers.
However, after inspecting the Manjolai region on November 29, the Cheranmahadevi Sub-Collector stated at an all-party meeting held on December 2 that only 93 voters were residing in Manjolai and that the remaining voters could not be included in the electoral list.
Residents countered this claim, stating that they had moved down from the hills only temporarily, mainly for their children’s education and employment.
They said they return to the hills during holidays and that Manjolai continues to be their permanent address. Representations were submitted to the District Collector as well as to Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker Appavu.
The deletions have come as a shock at a time when petitioners from Manjolai are already pursuing a case in the Supreme Court seeking compensation related to their displacement.
Advocate Robert Chandrakumar, who has been spearheading the legal battle in support of the Manjolai residents, termed the move a violation of human rights.
He said that the people of Manjolai, who have been fighting for decades for their livelihood and citizenship rights, have now been subjected to yet another injustice. By stripping them of their voting rights and effectively ensuring that they are not recognised as voters anywhere, the Election Commission has acted against basic human rights, he said.
The Election Commission has stated that voters removed from the rolls can submit Form 6 during the objections and claims period and enrol themselves at their current place of residence.
However, Chandrakumar pointed out that most Manjolai residents who have moved down from the hills for work are staying in rented accommodation for short periods. Their only permanent address remains Manjolai, and obtaining fresh address proof within a month to re-enrol as voters is practically impossible.
As a result, all 1,827 voters who have been deleted now face the risk of being completely disenfranchised. Ironically, even the figure of 93 voters declared as eligible at the December 2 meeting has not been fully reflected in the final list, with even that number not entirely retained.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
Note: An earlier version of this story erroneously stated the number of voters deleted as 1,857. This has been corrected.
