After the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Mitha Lal, 65, was among those residents who checked the names on the electoral rolls in Sowcarpet in Harbour Assembly Constituency in the Central Business District of Chennai. “My name is on the rolls in Harbour Constituency. As I came to Chennai from Bakra Village in Jalore district of Rajasthan during my adolescent age, I never registered my name on the electoral rolls in my native village,” he said.
Walking on the paved footpath of the Chennai Corporation park near Mint Street near the boundary of the constituency along with his neighbour, Kanti Lal from Mount Abu, whose name was removed during SIR, Mr. Lal said that he always desired to be an elector in Harbour Constituency because of the favourable conditions for business with peace and harmony among communities facilitated by the elected governments.
“The DMK government has done well in the last five years. More than 500 people from my native village with their families are currently residents of Sowcarpet, doing business. Our MLA used to organise meetings every three months for safety and security of our businesses. Officials used to resolve all civic issues discussed at the meetings. We visit our native village during festivals. But I consider Chennai my home because I grew up in the city. Our native village is arid, and agriculture is a challenging job,” he said.
Another resident and business owner, R. Barathan, 74, who migrated from semi-arid part of Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar district to George Town, said: “I used to be part of the anti-Hindi agitation even as a child. I grew up in this area that provides business opportunities, ranging from gold to spices. When my customers ask me for ‘anda’ in Hindi, I ask them if it is ‘muttai’ meaning ‘egg’, believing that I am sensitising them in some way about the political significance of a two-language policy.”
“Here all citizens from various linguistic states talk to each other. But we also convey our own messages without hatred, as a number of residents from various linguistic states show mutual respect here. More than 70% of the house purchases I have brokered in the constituency have been sold to our fellow citizens speaking Hindi, Bengali and Odia. I have also had the experience of talking to C.N. Annadurai and Kamarajar when both of them visited Sowcarpet during my childhood. During that meeting, in the 1960s, I learnt that both of the great leaders with different ideologies respected each other,” he recalled.
Even as the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), led by DMK, has started constructing cow shelters in the area, residents in the constituency have been demanding more cow shelters by the GCC to prevent stray cattle from attacking residents. Many residents in the area have been injured by stray cattle attack along the street. Stray dogs are also a major civic issue because of the generation of huge quantities of solid waste in the narrow streets of George Town. Work on multi-modal integration near Broadway has been delayed for several years and started only a few months ago.
Waste management was a problem during the agitation by sanitation workers, who had warned about campaigning against the DMK government in the elections in slum pockets. However, the situation has improved after the representatives met with the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin who promised to accept the demands of the workers.
Unauthorised buildings in the congested area near the Central Railway Station is another challenge while sewer network and storm water drains are inadequate for the highly dense population in the area. Traffic congestion is another major issue. Public health risk is always high and a major issue in the congested area with huge footfalls, in an area sandwiched between Government Stanley Medical College Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.
S. Manoharan, a resident, said governance in the past five years was good, civic issues were resolved by officials promptly in the constituency based on complaints from residents and many electors in the constituency were beneficiaries of the welfare schemes including housing for the poor in the past five years. CMDA has constructed various projects, including housing for the poor and libraries for students, in the constituency in the past five years.
K. Shanmugham, another resident, said the garbage clearance, water supply and power supply had improved in the past few years, facilitating business growth. All the Chennai Corporation Councillors in wards of the constituency are DMK candidates, pointing to an advantage for the DMK this time.
“All the local BJP functionaries are frustrated as the saffron party has not been able to contest from the constituency. As the TVK is likely to split votes, BJP had a chance of winning this time. In the previous election, BJP had registered the lead in ward 57 and 54 where north Indian electors are in significant numbers. In wards 54, 54, 57 and 59, BJP came second. In ward 55, SDPI came third,” said D. Ravi, a functionary of the BJP. Over 25,000 Muslim electors and 28,000 north Indian electors are crucial for the winning candidate. During SIR, over 12,000 names of electors from northern States were removed in Harbour Assembly constituency, reducing the number from 40,000 to around 28,000. A total of 63,445 names were removed from the rolls in SIR.
With a promise to make the constituency a premier shopping destination of south India, the BJP had secured over 29% of the valid votes in the Assembly segment in the 2024 Parliamentary election. But, the DMK had maintained a comfortable lead, with support from all communities, focusing on peace, harmony, social welfare and infrastructure development.
Published – March 28, 2026 12:54 am IST
