Tamil Nadu’s urban areas record higher reduction in number of voters than rural ones

Urban Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu appeared to have undergone a substantial reduction in their size of electorate than rural seats in 2026, post the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter roll undertaken by the Election Commission of India (EC).

A comparative perusal of the data of 30 select Assembly constituencies in the State reveals Thousand Lights, Velachery, and T. Nagar, all in Chennai, are some of the areas that suffered a reduction in electorate to the extent of over 30%. Among other urban seats that have seen a considerable fall are Coimbatore (South) — 23.83% and Kolathur, represented by DMK leader and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin — 28.3%. One reason generally cited is the high prevalence of migration of people in cities and towns, a feature that is not as rampant in rural areas as is the case with urban.

For the purpose of this study, the Assembly constituency-wise data, as on January 5, 2025, and as on February 23, 2026, have been considered. At the time of launch of SIR in October last year, the electorate of the State went up by about 5 lakh. In other words, the overall figure stood at about 6.41 crore, whereas it was 6.36 crore at the time of the completion of special summary revision in January 2025. The constituency-wise data, as on January 2025, have been considered, as only it is available in the public domain and not that of October 2025, when enrolment of electors was frozen temporarily. As far as the study is concerned, the reduction in the electorate in the selected 30 constituencies is 12.9% against 10.86% for the entire State.

Looking at the overall picture, urban constituencies in northern and western districts have experienced a perceptible decrease, whereas those in the central and southern regions have seen a moderate decline. Among the minimum changes recorded by the seats are Nagercoil, Madurai (East), Kilvelur, and Dharmapuri. Of the seven chosen constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes, the general trend is that the reduction (ranging from 7.5% in Srivilliputhur to 4.97% in Ottapidaram) is lower than the State average of 12.9%. The outlier is Gudiyatham in the northern belt, where the degree of reduction is 17.9%.