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The names of 650 residents of Manjolai Estate have been removed from the final electoral roll under the Ambasamudram Assembly constituency in Tirunelveli district. This has triggered widespread concern, with residents and activists calling the move a serious violation of democratic rights.
The controversy followed the publication of the final electoral roll on February 23 after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India, which said Tamil Nadu has an electorate of 5.67 crore voters. In Manjolai, however, only 78 voters remain listed across three polling parts, while none of the 650 residents who had applied afresh through Form-6 were included.
According to residents, many of the affected families have lived in Manjolai Estate for four generations. They had submitted Aadhaar cards, ration cards, and old voter identity cards as proof of residence, and acknowledgements were issued for their applications. Despite this, their names did not appear in the final roll.
Activist and lawyer Robert Chandrakumar described the deletions as collective disenfranchisement. “This is mass disenfranchisement. They have stripped us of all our rights and left our people in no man’s land. We are not recognised anywhere,” he said.
A Manjolai resident who wished to remain anonymous said the outcome confirmed earlier fears. “This is what we told them earlier, but they convinced us that it would not happen. Now it has happened, and who is there to help us?” the resident asked.
TNM had earlier published a detailed report on how the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited abruptly announced its decision to cease operations at the historic Manjolai tea estate after decades of running the plantations since 1929, placing around 700 families under the threat of displacement and loss of livelihood as the estate closure unfolded deep within the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. Residents refused to leave and demanded the state government intervene and take over the estate under a public corporation to safeguard their future.
Stalin, a ward councillor from Oothu, had earlier said that the camps held ahead of their displacement were minimal and sparse. “When we asked the officials which address our identity cards would be shifted to, there was no answer,” he had told TNM earlier. Recalling this, he said that they had feared it would happen.
Residents and activists have disputed the official claim that voters were removed on the grounds that they were “not residing” in the area, maintaining that Manjolai continues to be their permanent address even if some members temporarily moved out for education or work.
Save the Nation, a civil rights organisation working on constitutional rights and democratic accountability, condemned the deletions as unjust, warned that they raise serious legal concerns, and urged the Chief Election Commissioner to intervene and restore the names of all eligible Manjolai residents to the electoral roll.
