India, Dec. 20 -- Around 9.7 million names might be dropped from the electoral rolls of Tamil Nadu after the special intensive revision, data from the election commission showed on Friday, marking the highest percentage of potential deletions in the controversial exercise among major states.

The draft electoral rolls after the first phase of the SIR was published on Friday, just months ahead of the 2026 assembly elections. Of the 64.1 million electors in Tamil Nadu as on October 27, around 9.7 million or 15.2% could be deleted.

This was because either booth level officers (BLOs) could not reach them or the electors did not give their enumeration forms back. Of the 9.7 million, 2.7 million were presumed dead, 6.6 million had shifted or w...