A row has erupted after BJP’s Amit Malviya shared a video claiming that Trinamool MP Kirti Azad was vaping in the House. Posting the video on his X handle, the BJP leader sought clarification from West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee regarding the MP’s “misconduct.”
In the alleged video, Azad is seen sitting inside the Lok Sabha, making a gesture with his hand cupped to his mouth and holding it for a few seconds. However, the footage shows no electronic cigarette or smoke.
Sharing the video on X, Malviya wrote, “The TMC MP accused by BJP MP Anurag Thakur of vaping inside Parliament is none other than Kirti Azad. For people like him, rules and laws clearly hold no meaning. Just imagine the audacity, hiding an e-cigarette in his palm while in the House!”
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“Smoking may not be illegal, but using it in Parliament is entirely unacceptable. Mamata Banerjee must clarify on her MP’s misconduct,” he added.
The TMC MP accused by BJP MP Anurag Thakur of vaping inside Parliament is none other than Kirti Azad. For people like him, rules and laws clearly hold no meaning. Just imagine the audacity, hiding an e-cigarette in his palm while in the House!
Smoking may not be illegal, but… pic.twitter.com/kZGnYcP0Iu
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 17, 2025
Earlier, Former Union Minister and senior BJP MP Anurag Singh Thakur wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, raising a serious complaint against an All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) MP for allegedly using an electronic cigarette inside the Lok Sabha chamber.
Thakur said the member belonging to the AITMC was seen using an electronic cigarette while seated in the House during the sitting, and added that the act was clearly visible to several members who were present.
The BJP MP reminded the Speaker that the manufacture, production, import, export, transport, sale, including online sale, distribution, storage and advertisement of electronic cigarettes had been completely prohibited across India under the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Act, 2019.
He added that even before the 2019 Act came into force, the use of any smoking device, including electronic nicotine delivery systems, had been barred inside Parliament House since 2008 under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003, and the rules framed under it, as well as instructions issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
Thakur said the open use of a banned substance and a prohibited device inside the Lok Sabha chamber, the core of India’s parliamentary system, amounted not only to a violation of decorum and discipline but also to a cognisable offence under laws enacted by Parliament.
IANS reported that Thakur urged the Speaker to take immediate cognisance of the incident, order an inquiry through the appropriate committee or mechanism of the House.
(with IANS inputs)
