The DMK demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday. The party accused him of excluding eligible voters during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. They also asked the President to scrap this exercise and return to paper ballots, citing practical difficulties during the monsoon season.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and an inquiry into his conduct over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, escalating its opposition to the voter-list revision exercise. At a meeting of the party's Members of Parliament on Saturday, the DMK adopted four resolutions covering electoral reforms, protests against the SIR and allegations of double standards by the Congress and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). The meeting was held at the Murasoli Maran Meeting Hall at the party headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, under the leadership of DMK president and former Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin. The party accused Kumar of spearheading the alleged exclusion of eligible voters through the SIR exercise and called for his removal from office. The resolution alleged that he had pursued the exercise despite opposition from the other two Election Commissioners. The DMK also resolved to submit a formal petition to the President of India seeking the scrapping of the SIR and the discontinuation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in favour of paper ballots. Under the proposed demands, upcoming elections should be conducted using electoral rolls prepared before the SIR, the party said. The resolution traced the party's opposition to the SIR to July 2025, when reports of large-scale voter deletions in Bihar prompted Stalin to speak out against the exercise ahead of the state Assembly elections. Stalin also participated in the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, accompanied by Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, the DMK's deputy general secretary and parliamentary party leader, according to the resolution. The party said its concerns intensified after the Election Commission announced on October 27, 2025, that the SIR would be undertaken in 12 states, including Tamil Nadu. The DMK argued that conducting the exercise during November and December would create practical difficulties because the period coincides with the monsoon and festive seasons