While Tamil Nadu's April 23 assembly elections set an all-time high voter turnout of 85.1%—as initially reported amid peaceful polling—the absolute increase in votes cast marks the smallest rise over the prior election in 15 years, per Election Commission provisional data. This follows a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) that net deleted 68 lakh electors.
Building on the record turnout confirmed in initial coverage of the 2026 assembly polls, Tamil Nadu's 85.1% participation rate resulted from the SIR exercise, which pruned the electoral roll by a net 68 lakh names. This yielded about 24.8 lakh more voters than in 2021—a 5.5% rise that is the lowest in 15 years, compared to 6.22% (2021 over 2016), 18.5% (2016), and 11.4% (2011).
The modest growth underscores constituency-level disparities across urban, rural, and regional lines, even as the statewide percentage hit a historic peak.
