Tamil Nadu Assembly Evicts DMK MLAs After Protests Over CM Vijay's Corruption Allegations

Tamil Nadu Assembly proceedings descended into a bitter political confrontation on Tuesday as opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) legislators were evicted from the House following a tumultuous sit-in protest. The action followed a high-voltage exchange initiated by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, who launched a scathing attack on the previous DMK administration by citing documents from the Directorate of Enforcement (ED). Mr. Vijay accused former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and other senior figures of institutionalized corruption, alleging that kickbacks were extracted from municipal contractors in regular installments akin to loan payments.

The unprecedented clash triggered immediate retaliatory demonstrations on the assembly floor, prompting Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar to order the forcible removal of protesting opposition members. The ruling establishment defended the floor debate by maintaining that the cited documents are already in the public domain, while opposition leaders condemned the expulsions as an authoritarian attempt to stifle legislative accountability and deny them a platform for rebuttal.

The legislative storm originated from a detailed presentation by Chief Minister Vijay regarding allegations of systemic kickbacks within state departments. Relying on investigative records compiled by the Directorate of Enforcement, the Chief Minister detailed financial irregularities associated with works executed under the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, alongside allegations concerning the state-run liquor retailer TASMAC.

According to the official documents cited in the House, contractors executing public projects were allegedly subjected to systematic deductions ranging between 7.5 percent and 10 percent of their contract values, which were purportedly funneled into party funds. Highlighting specific figures from the investigative papers, Mr. Vijay referenced statements attributed to an individual named Purushotham, who allegedly detailed bribe collections amounting to ₹29 lakh, asserting that these illicit collections operated continuously like standard loan EMIs.

The political fallout intensified when Mr. Vijay explicitly named former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, former Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, and other unnamed associates as direct beneficiaries of the alleged party fund collections. The remarks immediately galvanized the opposition benches, who surrounded the Speaker's podium and initiated a sit-in demonstration, demanding an immediate expunction of the references.

In addition to the financial dossiers, the debate touched upon historical political controversies, including the Sarkaria Commission report of the 1970s, the Veeranam project scandal, and the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). Opposition lawmakers argued that the Chief Minister had departed from standard legislative etiquette and strayed from his initial speech text to deliver politically motivated attacks aimed at discrediting senior opposition leaders without offering immediate judicial validation.

As tensions escalated inside the chamber, Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar rejected the opposition's persistent demands to expunge the remarks from the assembly records. Mr. Prabhakar ruled that the issues raised, particularly historical inquiries like the Sarkaria Commission, had already been extensively debated across previous legislative sessions and that quoting from publicly available federal investigative reports violated no legislative rules.

Following the Speaker's refusal to retract the statements, DMK members marched toward the Chair, raising slogans and refusing to disperse. Acting on the directives of the Speaker, marshals entered the floor and forcibly evicted the protesting legislators, who subsequently gathered outside the assembly complex to address the media and denounce the ruling.

Addressing reporters outside the assembly premises, Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin vehemently rejected the corruption allegations, characterizing them as baseless political maneuvering designed to deflect public attention from pressing law and order concerns within the state. Mr. Stalin asserted that the administration had deliberately denied the opposition an opportunity to mount a formal defense on the floor of the House.

"The Chief Minister has spoken in his reply. For the first 11 minutes, he spoke about the police department, and we listened quietly. After that, he levelled baseless allegations against us without any proof," Mr. Stalin told reporters, adding that procedural pressures prevented the opposition from responding during the session.

With the DMK legislative contingent removed from the chamber for the duration of the sitting, the assembly proceeded with remaining official agenda items under heightened security measures. The refusal of the Speaker to expunge the contested remarks leaves the parliamentary friction unresolved, setting the stage for continued political confrontation between the ruling administration and the primary opposition party.

Neither the Secretariat nor the Privileges Committee has issued formal notices regarding further disciplinary proceedings against the evicted lawmakers, though both political camps have signaled intensified public campaigns centering on the federal investigative findings and the propriety of the assembly debate.