TN Assembly watch: Bill to ban online gambling and other developments

With the state Assembly elections likely to happen in a couple of months, all eyes are on the Tamil Nadu Assembly session which began on February 2. On the first day of the session, opposition party DMK staged a walkout stating that the Governor, in his speech, did not have a decision on the release of Rajiv Gandhi assassination convicts. The party also announced that they will boycott the rest of the session to register their protest to the delay in taking a decision on the issue.

Here are the four major events that happened in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday.

• Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam introduced the bill to ban online gambling. In November, an ordinance was passed by the government of Tamil Nadu after several persons lost money and at least two youngsters killed themselves due to online gambling. The bill is expected to be passed in the Assembly on Friday through voice votes. 
• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister told the Assembly that the Governor has not responded to the proposal to release Rajiv Gandhi assassination convicts.  The Governor was expected to decide on releasing the convicts after the Supreme Court’s deadline. The Chief Minister had also met with the Governor recently to urge him to take a good decision on it. However, Edappadi K Palaniswami, on Thursday, told the MLAs that no word has been received yet from the Governor on the matter. 
• Health Minister C Vijayabaskar indicated that the Chief Minister, MLAs and citizens over the age of 50 are likely to receive COVID-19 vaccine soon. He said that in response to a question posed by AIADMK MLA S Semmalai. The Minister said that the state government has sent a proposal to the Union Government to open up vaccination drive to others in the state apart from healthcare workers and added that the state government is expecting a favourable reply from the Union government in a couple of weeks. 
• Tamil Nadu Minister for Municipal Administration SP Velumani introduced a bill to extend the tenure of the special officers appointed to manage the Corporations, Municipalities etc in Tamil Nadu by a period of six months. This bill came into picture since local body polls in urban areas to elect Mayors have not taken place in Tamil Nadu since 2011.