'Festival of Election is pride of Tamil Nadu': CEC Gyanesh Kumar on upcoming assembly polls

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 27 (ANI): Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Friday highlighted the preparedness for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, describing the electoral exercise as the "pride of Tamil Nadu" and urging voters to participate enthusiastically.
Addressing the media in Chennai, the CEC said that the Election Commission recently held an international conference with participation from 72 countries, including Chief Election Commissioners, Election Commissioners and electoral staff from across the world.
"Recently, the Commission held an international conference with 72 countries participating from the world over. Chief Election Commissioners, Election Commissioners, and Electoral staff had participated. And there, the Commission had told the world about the Kudavolai system of Tamil Nadu, which was in vogue since the 10th century CE... The Festival of Election is the pride of Tamil Nadu, and I appeal to all voters of Tamil Nadu to celebrate it..." he said.
He added that the Commission has been in Tamil Nadu for the past few days reviewing electoral preparedness with district collectors.
"We have been in Tamil Nadu for the last few days, and reviewed the electoral preparedness with the collectors, SPs, DIGs, IGs, nearly 24 enforcement agencies, state government, chief secretary, DGP", he said.
Providing details, the CEC said Tamil Nadu has 234 Assembly constituencies, 188 General, 44 reserved for Scheduled Castes, and 2 reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
He said that a special intensive revision of electoral rolls was carried out from October 27, 2025, to February 23, 2026, with the objective that no eligible voter should be excluded and no ineligible person included.
"Tamil Nadu has 234 Assembly constituencies, out of which 188 are General, 44 are Schedule Caste, and 2 are Schedule Tribe... The special intensive revision which was carried out in Tamil Nadu from 27th October 2025 till 23rd February 2026, the simple, straight, clear, transparent objective was that no eligible voter should be excluded, while no ineligible person should be included. As of today, Tamil Nadu has 5 crore 67 lakh voters and a large number of dead voters, people who have shifted or people whose names are in more than one constituency have been correctly removed from the electoral rolls of the past, he said.
The CEC further informed that nearly 75,000 polling stations will be set up across the state, of which around 44,000 will be in rural areas.
"Tamil Nadu is going to go for the elections with nearly 75,000 polling stations, out of which 44,000 are rural. 100% webcasting will be available in every polling booth to ensure transparency. For the ease of voters, the average voter per polling station will be 756, resulting in comfortable and seamless voting. The women-managed polling stations are going to be 258, and the physically disabled managed polling stations are 47, and roughly 265 model polling stations will be set up in Tamil Nadu," he said.
The Election Commission reiterated its commitment to conducting free, fair and transparent elections in the state.
As per the statement, the Commission directed all Heads and Nodal Officers of Enforcement Agencies to act with complete impartiality and firmly clamp down on all inducement-related activities.
The Commission also directed all DEOs and SPs to prioritise voters' comfort and accessibility at polling stations, and impart robust training to officials and ensure wide awareness about electoral processes. The Commission also directed the officers to ensure absolute impartiality and act without fear or favour and underscored that there will be zero tolerance towards any deviation from the laws, rules and related elections with respect to the conduct of elections. (ANI)