Sitharaman said both Chief Minister Stalin and his Deputy Udhayanidhi were speaking “without understanding facts”.
Published Nov 11, 2025 | 3:41 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 11, 2025 | 3:49 PM
Nirmala Sitharaman. Credit: x.com/nsitharamanoffc
Synopsis: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed DMK’s statewide protests against electoral roll revision as a diversion from governance failures. Defending Special Intensive Revision, she revealed 68 lakh bogus voters, including 4,379 fakes in CM Stalin’s Kolathur seat. No genuine voter will lose rights, she assured, while highlighting GST cuts benefiting Tamil Nadu traders.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, 11 November, accused the
DMK of orchestrating statewide protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls merely to divert attention from its governance failures in Tamil Nadu.
Addressing a press conference after attending a thanksgiving event in Coimbatore for GST rate cuts, Sitharaman said, “It is surprising that the DMK is protesting today as if BJP has introduced SIR for the first time. This exercise has been conducted 10 times earlier — in 1952, 1956, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1983-84, 1987-89, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003, and 2005 — when Congress was allied with DMK. Why were there no protests back then?”
Dismissing Chief Minister MK Stalin’s video message claiming SIR was an attempt to “snatch voting rights”, the finance minister said both Stalin and Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi were speaking “without understanding facts”.
She reminded that the Election Commission is constitutionally mandated under Articles 324 and 329 to revise voter lists before every election.
Sitharaman revealed irregularities uncovered in Stalin’s own Kolathur constituency: 4,379 fake voters, 933 with bogus addresses, one individual holding three voter IDs, 30 voters registered at a single address in Booth 84, 62 in Booth 27, and 80 from various religions falsely listed in Booth 140. Statewide, 5,964 bogus entries were detected, alongside 7 lakh duplicate voters, 20 lakh fake entries, and 35 lakh migrated voters — totalling 68 lakh ineligible entries.
“Shouldn’t such irregularities be removed?” she asked, asserting that no genuine voter would lose their franchise.
“BLOs will visit homes; alternative documents can be submitted. Rural people need not travel,” she clarified.
Accusing the DMK-led alliance of undermining constitutional institutions, Sitharaman said, “When BJP wins, they blame EVMs. Now they are questioning the Election Commission. We urge them not to weaken its powers.”
On GST relief, the finance minister stressed on the systematic tax reductions benefiting consumers and traders alike, adding that she was invited to Coimbatore specifically to receive gratitude for Prime Minister Modi’s initiatives.
Referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s continued allegations despite CSTS verification of the SIR process, she said, “In Bihar elections, he shouts ‘vote chori’ in Haryana; in Maharashtra, he misleads despite facts.”
Sitharaman also reiterated that no Income Tax Department action has ever been proven wrong and confirmed an ongoing probe into the recent Delhi blast, while maintaining BJP never interferes in other parties’ internal matters.
(With inputs from Subash Chandra Bose)
