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Nomination filing for the October 6 by-elections to the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly seats closed on September 16, with the TVK fielding the two former AIADMK MLAs who defected to the party, the DMK naming Paranthaman and Suganya, and the AIADMK fielding Kanitha Sampath and K. Bhanumathi.
Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay's UK investment delegation signed MoUs worth around Rs 12,300 crore, led by a roughly Rs 11,000-crore commitment from Samvardhana Motherson, even as a planned meeting with the Tamil diaspora near The Shard in London was cancelled after police raised crowd-safety concerns.
Greater Chennai Police registered separate cases against DMK MP A. Raja and DMK MLA P.K. Sekar Babu over allegedly derogatory remarks made against Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and Law Minister C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar during the party's September 12 statewide protests, following complaints filed by TVK functionaries.
DMK president and former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was diagnosed with viral fever on September 15, prompting the party to postpone its annual Mupperum Vizha event at Anna Arivalayam in Chennai, which marks the birth anniversaries of Periyar and Annadurai along with the DMK's founding. General secretary Durai Murugan said a fresh date for the event would be announced later.
A political row over Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay's Assembly remarks on M. Karunanidhi and M.K. Stalin escalated this week after DMK MP A. Raja made derogatory personal remarks about Vijay and a state minister at a party protest meeting, then withdrew them following backlash from allies including the CPI(M) and VCK. On September 14, Tamil Nadu ministers Vanni Arasu and S. Ramesh, and CPI(M) state secretary P. Shanmugam, renewed criticism of the DMK over the episode.
The DMK staged protests across Tamil Nadu on September 12 condemning Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay's Assembly remarks targeting party patriarch M. Karunanidhi and president M.K. Stalin, with senior leader P.K. Sekar Babu dismissing the Chief Minister's corruption allegations as theatrics.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on September 11 opposed the Tamil Nadu government's proposal to build a new Assembly-Secretariat complex on Santhome Road at Pattinapakkam, saying the roughly Rs 1,200-crore project was unaffordable given the state's debt burden and unsuitable for a site with fishing hamlets, homes, schools and heavy traffic.
With the Election Commission scheduling by-elections to the Madurantakam (SC) and Dharapuram (SC) Assembly seats for October 6, the AIADMK on September 9 invited applications from aspirants for the two constituencies. General secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami said the party would win both seats, alleging the vacancies were engineered through defections to protect the TVK government. The seats fell vacant after two AIADMK MLAs resigned and joined the TVK.