CHENNAI: The ruling TVK in Tamil Nadu on Saturday slammed DMK president M K Stalin for allegedly "body-shaming" the party's Dharapuram bypoll candidate P Satyabama and petitioned the EC to revoke the former Chief Minister's star campaigner status.

Chief minister C Joseph Vijay and other TVK leaders slammed Stalin over the "body-shaming" charge, with the former alleging that the DMK president's campaign in the Assembly segment located in the western Tiruppur district was marked by "slander, misogyny and personal abuse."

In a formal complaint submitted to Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam General Secretary for Election Campaign Management and state minister, Aadhav Arjuna, alleged that Stalin blatantly violated the model code of conduct (MCC) during a campaign rally in Dharapuram on Friday.

The petition requested the EC to invoke its statutory powers under the Representation of the People Act to impose a temporary campaign ban on Stalin and direct local election authorities to register an FIR against him under Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act, 1998.

Campaign to the high-stakes October 6 bypoll in Dharapuram, besides Madurantakam, ends at 6 pm on Sunday.

TVK knocked the doors of the EC with the plaint after a sharp criticism earlier in the day by Vijay, who accused Stalin of indulging in personal attacks and body-shaming Sathyabama under the guise of election canvassing.

Expressing solidarity with his party candidate as a "son and brother to the women of Tamil Nadu," the chief minister asserted that obscenity and vulgarity have become ingrained in the DMK’s political conduct, adding that the electorate of Dharapuram would deliver a fitting response in the upcoming bypoll.

During the DMK's poll campaign, Stalin criticised the TVK candidate ridiculing her for shifting loyalties to the ruling TVK from the AIADMK, and used nicknames like "suitcase" (petti) and "somersault" (balti) implying she switched political camp for financial gain.

In a statement on X, Vijay said: "Under the guise of an election campaign in Dharapuram, the evil force DMK has organised a defamatory and utterly uncivilised meeting under its leader M K Stalin."

He alleged that Stalin "took pleasure in resorting to body-shaming and making highly inappropriate remarks against our party candidate, sister Mrs Sathyabama."

Calling the DMK "anti-democratic," Vijay alleged that vulgarity and hostility were embedded in its ideology and accused Stalin of proudly fostering a toxic political culture in the party.

"The people of Tamil Nadu have long realised that obscenity, malice and vulgarity are intertwined in the DMK's DNA. They specialise in speaking obscenely about women, even in their presence, completely indifferent to their discomfort," he charged.

Expressing confidence that voters, particularly in Dharapuram, located in Tiruppur, a textile hub, would not tolerate such behaviour, he said he conveyed his "strongest condemnation against the DMK for its continuous derogatory language targeting women."

In the complaint, Arjuna said the DMK chief indulged in the worst form of body-shaming, directly maligning the TVK party candidate, wondering how "she is able to perform somersault with such a body, thereby ridiculing her physical appearance which is an affront to not only a lady candidate but also an insult to crores of women all over India."

"The impugned statement does not concern any policy, programme, public record or political position of the candidate. It directly comments upon and ridicules the physical appearance/body of a woman candidate in the course of an election campaign. Such a personal reference is wholly unrelated to any legitimate issue concerning her candidature or public record," he said.

Arjuna, who is minister for Public Works and Sports further stated "these sort of women body-shaming and vulgar words being thrown at the women of Tamil Nadu to prevent them from taking part in the public life has become a regular habit for the DMK party, particularly for M K Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin."

He said the Election Commission should immediately issue a temporary campaign ban, preventing the violators from addressing public rallies, giving interviews or holding shows for a specific duration.

"Hence, with a view to protect the honor and dignity of women in Tamil Nadu, particularly the dignity of our candidate Tmt P Sathyabama, who has been specifically targeted by Mr Stalin to prevent her from canvassing for votes, I request the Election Commission to immediately cancel the star campaigner status given to Mr Stalin," he urged.

Earlier, Energy Resources and Law Minister R Nirmal Kumar accused the DMK leadership of derogatory remarks against women, saying the party was revealing its "true character" out of frustration over impending defeat.

Speaking to reporters in Coimbatore, he said the language used by Stalin and his son, Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi, during their campaign in Dharapuram showed a lack of vision for the future.

"The DMK leadership is in a state of utter desperation because they have nothing positive to offer the electorate. Resorting to inappropriate, derogatory language is their final, desperate tactic," he told reporters here. He claimed the DMK's political influence was declining and that voters would hand it a decisive defeat in the bypoll.

Nirmal Kumar alleged that the father and son had lost their self-control and used offensive language against others, including a woman candidate, to grab attention. He described the DMK as a "harmful force" to society.