Booth-level officers distribute enumeration forms at Chintadripet in Chennai on November 4, 2025. | Photo Credit: The Hindu As anticipated, the DMK and its allies in Tamil Nadu have launched an attack against the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of next year’s Assembly elections. Their concern is that the exercise, being conducted with undue haste, could precipitate arbitrary deletions and additions of voters, particularly affecting minorities and members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. They believe that it effectively functions as a de facto National Register of Citizens. In a petition filed before the Supreme Court, the DMK has contended that by imposing citizenship-like burdens of proof upon electors, the SIR exceeds its statutory remit and infringes upon citizens’ fundamental right to vote. Its argument centres on the proposition that the unilateral ‘imposition’ of such an unprecedented, resource-intensive, and socially disruptive process upon a State, without consultation or demonstrable administrative exigency, transgresses the federal structure of the Constitution, recognised as part of its basic structure. The party …