Chief Minister Vijay “blackmailed” children by appealing to them, two election petitioners allege before Madras High Court
Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay had “blackmailed” children by making an appeal to them to prevail upon the adults in their familiies to vote for
Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay had “blackmailed” children by making an appeal to them to prevail upon the adults in their familiies to vote for his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party, election petitioners R.D. Shekar Inigo Irudayaraj, of DMK, who lost to him in Perambur and Tiruchi East Assembly constituencies respectively, have contended before the Madras High Court. Listing out identical grounds on which they had filed individual election petitions challenging the Chief Minister’s victory from both the constituencies this year, the petitioners said: “The first respondent (Mr. Vijay) has, through his speeches, emotionally targeted and, to a degree, even blackmailed vulnerable children and impressionable minds to garner votes of their family members.” They submitted in the court a DVD containing a video clip of the appeal made by the Chief Minister during his last election campaign speech at YMCA grounds in Chennai on April 21, 2026 and said: “This kind of an emotional appeal to children and involving them in electoral activity is not only immoral but against the spirit of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the Constitution.” Justice V. Lakshminarayanan on Tuesday (July 7, 2026) ordered notices to the Chief Minister on both the election petitions after hearing preliminary submissions made by senior counsel P.
Wilson for the two petitioners who alleged that children were involved in election campaign related activities too by making them sport TVK mufflers around their necks besides holding pamphlets, posters and handbills. Citing Election Commission of India’s (ECI) February 5, 2024 directive against the use of children in election campaigns/rallies, the petitioners said, “the systemic involvement of children in his election campaign activities by the first respondent” was against such directive and hence the court must declare his victory to be null and void for having reportedly violated the commission’s instructions. The other grounds raised in the two election petitions were alleged failure on the part of the Chief Minister to disclose his election expenses in full after the conduct of the polls, reported discrepancies in the information provided in the election affidavits regarding his assets and liabilities, campaigning in religious places in violation of the model code of conduct and so on. The petitioners said, music composer S. Thaman had composed TVK flag anthem, campaign anthem and whistle anthem which were used extensively for the campaigning but the expenses incurrred for them had not been disclosed at all. They said, the composer would not have charged anything less than ₹10 lakh for his services and claimed that there was suppression of this election expenditure.
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