CHENNAI: A controversy broke out within hours of the election of the new Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday after photographs of friends of newly elected Deputy Speaker M Ravisankar occupying his official chair inside his allocated chamber and taking selfies went viral on social media, drawing criticism over alleged violation of legislative decorum.
The photographs showed a few of Ravisankar's associates, identified online as Parthiban Senthil and Murali, taking turns to sit on the Deputy Speaker's chair and posing for selfies inside the Secretariat complex. The images quickly triggered sharp reactions from political observers and social media users, many of whom questioned the propriety of the act and termed it disrespectful to the dignity of the constitutional office.
Several users accused the ruling establishment of failing to uphold institutional conventions.
"One cannot reduce the Deputy Speaker's chair to a musical chair spectacle. Government offices are not recreational spaces. Public life demands a sense of responsibility and restraint," a social media user wrote while criticising the incident.
Another user remarked, "If others can freely occupy the Deputy Speaker's seat, what does it say about the sanctity attached to the office itself?"
As the criticism intensified online, an old photograph purportedly showing Ravisankar seated inside a TASMAC outlet along with liquor bottles also resurfaced and began circulating widely across social media platforms, adding to the political embarrassment.
Ravisankar, the TVK MLA from Thuraiyur, was unanimously elected Deputy Speaker earlier in the day during the Assembly session.