SB Madhavi, the first woman Dafadar of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), alleged that she was punished with a transfer order for wearing a lipstick shade. In a reply to a memo against her, Madhavi said that she was asked to refrain from wearing certain lipstick colours deemed “striking” by E Sivasankaran, the personal assistant to Mayor Priya. Mayor Priya, however, denied the allegations and said that Madhavi’s transfer was for dereliction of duty and had nothing to do with her lipstick.

“In the first week of August, Sivasankaran asked me to refrain from wearing dark-coloured lipsticks that are striking. He compared me to another lady who was wearing a light-coloured lipstick and asked me to follow that. I said he does not have the right to decide which lipstick colours I should wear,” Madhavi said. 

Just a few days after this incident, Sivasankaran sent Madhavi a memo on August 6 with a questionnaire regarding punctuality, discipline, and office rules as she had reached office 30 minutes after her reporting time. TNM accessed the memo with the answers that Madhavi had responded with. While the first three questions were about punctuality in the workplace, the last two questions asked her to explain why she ignored orders of her superior and violated office rules. 

Madhavi has asked the officer to specify which orders she did not follow. In response to the question on violation of office rules, she said, “You (referring to E Sivasankaran) told me to not apply lipstick and I didn’t wish to comply. If that is in violation of the office rules, please inform me of the Government Order (GO) that mentions this rule.”

A day after her response to the memo, on August 7, she received the transfer order to Manali, she told TNM. Madhavi said the transfer felt like a punishment. “They know I live at a distance from Ripon Building, as I mentioned this in my responses to the memo regarding my late arrival. Now I've been assigned to Manali, which is an additional 10 to 15 kilometres away for me,” she stated. 

Mayor Priya told TNM that the reason for the transfer was clearly mentioned in the memo. “You must have seen the memo, action was taken against her for dereliction of duty, and for no other reason. Those who work as dafadars have uniforms, and my office staff would have insisted that she should dress pleasantly,” she said.

When asked if Madhavi was asked to change her lipstick shade, Priya categorically denied. “No one was asked that, and no one should tell others how to dress,” she said. 

When it was pointed out that she had told the Times of India that reported the story first that the “mayor's office has ministers and embassy officials visiting frequently, my PA told her not to wear those shades,” Mayor Priya claimed that she was merely pointing out Madhavi did dress in a certain way, and insisted that the action against her was not linked to the lipstick.

Meanwhile, Madhavi also alleged that she was questioned by the Mayor for the way in which she walked the ramp in a fashion show during GCC’s Women’s Day celebrations in March 2023.

“The Mayor told me that I should not walk like that and asked me to refrain from participating in such events, to which I obliged,” she said.