DMK promise fizzles: Tamil Nadu Assembly meets least since 1952

Chennai: While releasing the party manifesto for the 2021 elections, DMK President M K Stalin had promised to take steps to convene the Tamil Nadu Assembly for at least 100 days in a year after accusing the then AIADMK government of not spending enough days discussing people’s problems in the House.

Five years later, the 16th Assembly, in which Stalin is the Chief Minister, ended up meeting only for 155 days, the lowest for a full-term assembly since 1952, when the first general elections were held in independent India, according to a detailed analysis by PRS Legislative Research.

The 16th Assembly has also recorded many lows with the Discussion on Department Expenditure after the Budget being held only for 17 days, two days less than 15th Assembly, five days less than 14th Assembly, and eight days less than 13th Assembly.

However, Speaker M Appavu, in February, said the House convened for 161 days during the term of the 16th Assembly. Even if one goes by the Appavu’s figure – the presiding officer must have counted the days when the House was adjourned immediately after reading obituary references – the figure is one day less than 162 sittings during the 15th Assembly (2016-2021).

The analysis shows a steady decline in the number of sittings from the first assembly (314) to 155 in the 16th Assembly with the average annual sittings having been reduced by half between the first and current assemblies.

The highest number of sittings are 325 during the fifth assembly (1971-1975) when late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister. The number of statements by ministers in the House was a mere 32 in the 16th Assembly while it peaked in the previous two terms with 185 in 2011-2016 and 177 in 2016-2021, while only 35 calling attention motions were taken up in this term as against 70 during the 15th Assembly.

“Between 2021 and 2026, the 16th Assembly met for 155 days, the lowest for a full term assembly since 1952. It met for 32 days on average. Assembly sittings have lasted five hours per day on average,” the PRS’ analysis said.

However, the 16th Assembly saw introduction of 201 bills of which 194 were passed, while none was referred to a committee, an improvement from 183 bills moved in the House during the 15th Assembly. The analysis showed that education, urban governance, and law and order accounted for about a third of all introduced Bills.

A whooping 78 per cent of bills were passed within a day of introduction, in a clear hint that enough time was not given for allotted for discussion – as many as 19 bills were passed on September 13, 2021 (five of them were introduced the previous day and 13 in the previous week).

During the term of the 16th Assembly, which saw Governor R N Ravi walking out of the House in 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026, as many as 82 per cent of Bills received assent within three months of passing, while nine bills received assent more than a year after passing, including six which are deemed to have received after a Supreme Court judgement of April 2025.

The analysis also noted that the Tamil Nadu has stopped setting aside time for private members’ business since the 9th Assembly (1989-1991). The 16th Assembly also saw 17 government resolutions being moved and passed with most of them against the BJP-led Union Government.

Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Chennai-based NGO Arappor Iyakkam, termed the development as “direct stifling” of democratic rights of people who elect legislators to be their voice in the legislative assembly.

“Reducing the number of sittings directly affects people’s rights because it is in the assembly that legislators can ask questions to ministers and Chief Minister and get them to respond. Legislative assembly is the place where people’s issues should be discussed thread bare and solutions found. But the space for such a discussion is shrinking,” Venkatesan told DH.

The activist, whose NGO has unearthed several scams, also blamed the DMK government for not fully implementing its promise of live telecasting assembly proceedings. “It has been implemented for namesake. The live telecast is selective and doesn’t even cover 30 to 40 per cent of the proceedings,” Venkatesan added.