Chennai in Numbers

Chennai Voters in Numbers: 2026 Roll, SIR Cuts and Turnout

Chennai's roll shrank to 28.31 lakh voters after the 2026 revision. Why its 83.7% turnout looks like a record, and the constituency figures behind it.

15 hrs ago

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Chennai district had 28,30,936 voters on the final electoral roll published on 23 February 2026, after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the rolls. Before the revision, the city’s rolls carried around 40 lakh names. At the 23 April 2026 Assembly election, Chennai’s turnout was recorded at about 83.7%, a figure that looks like a leap from the roughly 59% of 2021 but mostly reflects the smaller roll.

The numbers matter now because the next election on Chennai’s calendar is the Greater Chennai Corporation poll, and the same revised roll is the starting point. Here is what the official counts show, constituency by constituency where data is available, and how to read the turnout story.

The roll after the revision

According to All India Radio’s report of the Election Commission’s release, Chennai district’s final roll held 28,30,936 electors. A breakdown reported the same week by News Today splits that as follows.

Chennai district, final roll (23 February 2026)	Number
Total electors	28,30,936
Women	14,64,344
Men	13,65,763
Third gender	829
Polling stations	4,079

Women outnumber men on Chennai’s roll by 98,581. The average polling station serves about 694 electors (simple division). Velachery has the most polling stations, 314, and Harbour the fewest, 192.

Largest and smallest constituencies

Chennai district’s 16 Assembly seats vary widely in size. Harbour is the smallest in the state, with 1,16,896 electors. Egmore (SC), also in Chennai, is among the smallest too, with 1,34,879.

Constituency	Electors, final roll 2026
Perambur	2,22,792
Egmore (SC)	1,34,879
Harbour	1,16,896

News Today named Perambur as the largest of the 16 by electors. Statewide, the largest constituency was Sholinganallur with 5,36,991 electors, more than four times Harbour. Sholinganallur covers much of the city’s southern IT corridor but falls in Chengalpattu district, which is why it does not appear in Chennai district’s list. Constituency-wise rolls for all 16 seats are in the dataset compiled by OpenCity from the Chief Electoral Officer’s files.

The statewide revision

Across Tamil Nadu, the electorate fell from 6,41,14,587 before the SIR (as on 27 October 2025) to 5,43,76,756 in the draft roll published on 19 December 2025, then rose to 5,67,07,380 in the final roll after claims and objections, The South First reported, citing the Chief Electoral Officer. About 27.53 lakh eligible electors were added during the claims period.

Tamil Nadu roll	Electors	Date
Before SIR	6,41,14,587	27 October 2025
Draft roll	5,43,76,756	19 December 2025
Final roll	5,67,07,380	23 February 2026

Statewide, the final roll had 2,89,60,828 women, 2,77,38,925 men and 7,617 third-gender electors. By subtraction, the final roll is about 74 lakh smaller than the pre-revision roll. The draft stage removed more than 97 lakh names, mostly people found dead, shifted or duplicated. Chennai’s fall was much sharper than the state’s: from around 40 lakh to 28.3 lakh, roughly 30%, against about 12% for Tamil Nadu as a whole (both simple arithmetic on the reported figures).

Turnout: a record that needs reading carefully

Tamil Nadu recorded 4,87,98,833 votes and a turnout of 85.10% on 23 April 2026, according to Election Commission figures reported before counting. More women voted than men: 2,52,59,596 against 2,35,34,720.

Chennai district’s turnout was about 83.7%. But the number of votes actually cast hardly moved. The South First’s analysis put Chennai’s 2026 votes at 24,48,186 against 24,16,815 in 2021, an increase of about 31,000. Other reports gave a lower provisional figure that excluded postal ballots. Either way, the jump in percentage came mainly from a smaller denominator: about 28 lakh names on the roll in 2026, against about 40 lakh in 2021.

Chennai district	2021	2026
Electors on roll	about 40 lakh	28.31 lakh
Votes polled	24,16,815	24,48,186
Turnout	about 59%	about 83.7%

The South First also noted that Chennai’s 2026 vote count was only about 14,000 higher than in 2016, which it described as routine growth rather than a surge. Constituency-level turnout varied, with some seats gaining a few thousand votes over 2021 and others losing as many, according to a breakdown published by The Week.

Check your name

Being on the 2026 roll matters for the coming local body election, since the local body roll is normally drawn from the Assembly roll. You can search for your name by EPIC number or personal details on the Election Commission’s voters’ portal or the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu website, and apply there to enrol or correct entries.

Quick answers

How many voters does Chennai have?

28,30,936 on the final roll of 23 February 2026, after the Special Intensive Revision.

What was Chennai’s turnout in 2026?

About 83.7%, though the number of votes cast was only slightly higher than in 2021.

Which is the smallest constituency in Chennai?

Harbour, with 1,16,896 electors, the smallest in Tamil Nadu.

How many voters does Tamil Nadu have?

5,67,07,380 on the final roll published on 23 February 2026.

Information checked against official sources on 18 October 2026. Fees, dates and rules can change; confirm on the linked official pages before acting.