CHENNAI: Thirty-one councillors of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) did not raise a single civic issue in the council over more than three years, revealed an RTI reply, raising serious questions about the performance of the representatives who were elected to be the voice of the people.
The information obtained by advocate GM Shankar, a member of the Aam Aadmi Party's state legal wing, shows that 31 of the 194 councillors remained silent during council meetings held between November 2022 and February 2026. Of them, 27 belong to the DMK, 2 to the Congress, and one AIADMK member and an independent – and most of them women.
The monthly council meetings at the Ripon Building are the city's highest civic decision-making forum where councillors are expected to flag issues ranging from damaged roads, stormwater drain works, and garbage clearance to drinking water supply, public health facilities, parks and, land patta-related grievances.
The RTI reply also highlights a pattern of absenteeism among councillors. The highest absence was recorded in May 2025, when 38 councillors skipped the meeting, followed by the February 2026 budget session, during which 33 councillors were absent.
Of the 40 council meetings held during this period, DMK’s M Sridharan (Ward 140) missed 10 of them to emerge as the one with the highest absents, followed by AIADMK’s T Sathiyanathan (Ward 145), who missed 9. DMK’s P Logu (Ward 127) skipped six.
According to the RTI response, the DMK councillors who did not raise any issue during the period were C Banumathi Chanthru (Ward 14), S Kanimozhi Suresh (Ward 28), N Kumari (Ward 40), S Anandhi (Ward 46), E Manimegalai Elumalai (Ward 47), V Vijayalakshmi Vijayakumar (Ward 48), Niranjana Jegadeesan (Ward 51), S Geetha Suresh (Ward 52), Rajesh Jain (Ward 57), E Nagarajan (Ward 64), K Saradha (Ward 65), L Ramani (Ward 75), K Porkodi (Ward 85), Nandhini MA (Ward 111), V Eswari Venkatesan (Ward 115), ARPM Kamaraj alias Dhana Sekaran (Ward 116), P Thirumalai (Ward 117), Mangai Rajkumar (Ward 120), K Vimala (Ward 124), P Logu (Ward 127), B Karthika Baskar (Ward 132), M Sridharan (Ward 140), E Stalin (Ward 144), K Raju (Ward 155), Devi Jesudoss (Ward 164), JK Manikandan (Ward 186), and G Shankar (Ward 199).
The other silent councillors were Congress members B Sumathi (Ward 77) and D Subashini (Ward 173), AIADMK's Ward 18 councillor M Sridharan, and Independent councillor S Gomathi Santhosh Kumar (Ward 2).
"Since July 2023, councillors have been receiving a monthly honorarium of Rs 10,000 and an annual ward development fund of Rs 60 lakh. They should use the remaining period of their tenure to voice public grievances in the council," said Shankar.
When asked, DMK councillor Anandhi (Ward 46) said most civic issues are resolved before they reach the council. "Most issues are addressed in ward-level meetings. If they are not resolved, we take them up with the local MLA (former Perambur MLA RD Sekar), and they are sorted out. That is why I did not raise questions in the council meetings during this period," she told DT Next.
Repeated attempts to contact DMK’s Sridharan (Ward 140) for his response were unsuccessful.
AIADMK’s Sathiyanathan attributed his absence to health reasons. He also alleged that some DMK councillors who skipped council meetings signed the attendance register the following day.