On July 21, the division bench of the Madras High Court issued an interim order to the Tamil Nadu’s ruling party DMK and has asked the government to restrain from using the Aadhaar details and OTP verification mechanism for the purpose of party’s enrollment drive titled ‘Oraniyil Tamil Nadu’, until further orders, as it is deemed as a breach of citizen’s privacy. Meanwhile, the court is examining whether there is a violation of citizen’s rights and data privacy in the name of enrollment drive.
The case was taken up by the Madras High Court based on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by S Rajkumar of Sivaganga district. The petitioner accused that the party functionaries demanded the Aadhaar, voter ID, GPay or UPI and even passbook details of the citizens under the guise of enrollment drive, a clear breach of right to privacy. The petitioner thus urged the court to take stringent action against the DMK and its functionaries. He also urged the court to direct the UIDAI and the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to take a thorough probe into the unauthorised collection of Aadhaar details by DMK.
The petition was taken up by Justice S.M. Subramaniam and Justice AD Maria Clete. The bench exclaimed that the “Oraniyil Tamil Nadu” is a door-to-door electoral membership drive organized by the recognised political party of the state. However, since the data collected is personal in nature, the issue raises serious concerns about the right to privacy and the secure digital infrastructure available for the purpose of data protection.
The court also observed that the digital membership drive by political parties is a new area of study for the judiciary. Hence, the court has to conduct a detailed inquiry on various issues such as how the collected data is processed and safeguarded in order to secure the privacy of citizens and whether such enrollment drive and collection of personal data violates the fundamental right to political affiliation etc. The court also highlighted other pertinent issues such as whether prior permission has been taken from the respondents for undertaking enrollment drive and in any case will the process of data collection put other small-scale political parties in a disadvantageous position. The court noted that such crucial factors have to be thoroughly examined.
The bench thus passed an interim order and restrained the DMK from obtaining the OTP based verification messages from the public as a part of enrollment drive until the next hearing or the final verdict. The court also directed the Union Government, UIDAI (Aadhaar authority), Tamil Nadu government and the DMK to respond to the petition and the matter was adjourned for two weeks. The interim order is thus a setback for the DMK and the Tamil Nadu government’s ambitious enrollment drive.
What was the Agenda behind the Membership Drive of DMK?
The “Oraniyil Tamil Nadu”, was a 45 day door-to-door enrollment drive with a target of enrolling over 2.5 crore new members into the party. It is alleged that a team of party cadre will visit every house across the state and they carry the latest voters’ list in order to prove the genuineness of their visit. They carry a questionnaire that asks whether the respondent wished to join the ‘Oraniyil Tamil Nadu’ campaign. Answering ‘Yes’ to this does not mean they would automatically be enrolled as a party member. They again ask whether the person is a beneficiary of any government scheme. If not he/she will be enrolled to get cash assistance. Then the responder receives an OTP and an automated system generated message, thanking the recipient for “joining the DMK.”
Political parties of Tamil Nadu AIADMK and BJP has opposed the DMK’s campaign by raising issues of privacy and hoodwinking the voters. The opposition has questioned, “When DMK claims crores of cadres in its party, why it is again taking up the enrollment drive so vigorously in the verge of election? If the party is confident of its 2.5 crore new members, why can’t it contest solely in the 2026 assembly elections instead of embarking on Congress, VCK and other left parties?”
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