Kalaivanar Arangam had hosted Assembly sessions for four years

According to records available with Tamil Nadu Assembly, the children’s park before 1947 was redesigned and constructed as the new Assembly hall in 1952. The first Assembly session, after the first election of 1952, was held in the present Kalaivanar Arangam. The session was held from May 3, 1952 to December 27, 1956 and after elections in 1957 the Assembly hall was shifted to the current location, St.George Fort. However, in 1959, the Assembly session during summer was held at Arranmoor Palace in Ooty, which is now functioning as government guest house.

From 1959 till 2020, the Assembly sessions were conducted in St.George Fort but now, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the state government had been forced to hold an adhoc session back at Kalaivanar Arangam. Assembly sources that 300 seats have been placed in the third floor of Kalaivanar Arangam for the Assembly session. Apart from 234 MLAs and the remaining seats will be for officials and media. Speaking about the Assembly arrangements, Tamil Nadu Assembly Secretary K Srinivasan, told DTNEXT that the hall in Kalaivanar Arangam with 12,000 square feet has the capacity to hold 1,000 seats and by following all social distancing norms only 300 chairs were placed which is one third of the capacity of the hall. Apart from the Assembly hall in the third floor, chambers for Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvan were provided in the second floor. The chambers for Speaker P Dhanapal and leader of opposition M K Stalin had been provided in the first and ground floors respectively. Srinivasan also said that COVID-19 negative certificate is must for all those entering third floor including senior IAS officers. Assembly staff and guards inside Assembly hall will also have COVID-19 negative certificate, added Srinivasan.