‘Living dead’: Kamal Haasan warns of massive SIR discrepancies in Rajya Sabha maiden speech

Actor-politician and MP Kamal Haasan delivered his maiden speech at the Rajya Sabha on February 4 and expressed concerns over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu. In his speech, Haasan stated that 1 crore electorals could be declared as ‘living dead’ on pape,r all thanks to SIR.

Haasan cited the example of Bihar, where the SIR of electoral rolls began in June last year and said, “My imminent concerns are the forthcoming elections…I call it the spell-check story of the living dead. We want to cast our votes, and commissions are checking our right to vote. They are checking the spellings and addresses, and that too erroneously.”

The actor was referring to the ongoing process of EC using a centralised software to generate notice electors based on 5 categories of “logical discrepancies” submitted in their documents. This includes a spelling mismatch.

“We just want to cast our vote. Spelling mistakes are a curse only for languages. Modern literature forgives these in favour of content, as does the internet. The Election Commission obviously does not. EC does not mean English coaches,” the actor said.

He pointed out that because of the spelling mismatch, Bihar has become a “land of the living dead”.

“We don’t want this disease to spread across the country…EC is surely facilitating the spread of this disease. We fear that there could soon be nearly 1 crore living dead on paper in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

He urged the House to act immediately, adding that the “juggernaut called democratic India will roll on”.

Earlier in December 2025, the initial draft roll pointed at the deletion of 97 lakh electors in Tamil Nadu alone. All have either been marked dead, shifted or registered at some other place.

Nearly 1.70 crore electors were flagged for notices. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be out on February 14, and Assembly elections in TN are due soon after.