Justice N. Sathish Kumar issues the interim direction while hearing a case filed by actor Vijay’s TVK, alleging onerous conditions being imposed on it for the grant of permission for his campaign

Hindu news
Vijay’s Tiruchi campaign: Madras High Court orders framing of guidelines to penalise political parties for damage to public property
Justice N. Sathish Kumar issues the interim direction while hearing a case filed by actor Vijay’s TVK, alleging onerous conditions being imposed on it for the grant of permission for his campaign

The Madras High Court on Thursday (September 18, 2025) impressed upon the need for the State to frame guidelines for collecting monetary deposits from political parties intending to hold public meetings and other events, so they can be penalised if their cadres damage public property.

Advertisement

Advertisement
Justice N. Sathish Kumar directed Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) E. Raj Thilak to submit a report by September 24 with respect to the guidelines, which should be applicable to all political parties, as well as other organisations/associations, that intend to conduct public events, without any discrimination.

The interim direction was issued after taking note of photographs produced by the APP with regard to damage caused to public property when a huge number of people gathered to witness the campaign of actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Tiruchi on September 13.

TVK Vijay’s rally highlights need to review list of notified spots in Tiruchi

The photos were produced during the hearing of a writ petition (criminal) filed by the TVK, accusing the police of imposing “practically impossible and onerous conditions” whenever it sought permission for a campaign by its party leader. It claimed that such conditions were not imposed on any other political party.

Senior counsel V. Raghavachari said the Tiruchi police had imposed as many as 23 conditions for the campaign led by Mr. Vijay, and that one of those conditions stated that pregnant women, elderly people, and persons with disabilities should not attend the event. He wondered how the party could prevent anybody from attending its events.

‘TVK a strong democratic force’
He also submitted in court a detailed affidavit filed by the party’s deputy general secretary C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar, stating that the TVK was a registered political party whose core ideology was based on ‘secular social justice’, encompassing values of secularism, social equality, inclusive representation, linguistic harmony, democratic values, and the two-language policy.

Government properties damaged during Vijay’s rally, alleges Anbil Mahesh

The deponent also claimed that the principles and policies of the TVK founder had drawn lakhs of people, particularly women, youth, and students, to the join the party and that it had rapidly become a strong democratic force and one of the largest political parties in the State.

“The unprecedented growth of the petitioner’s party has led to resistance from a dominant political family in Tamil Nadu, which is unable to accept the rise of the TVK and has continuously sought to obstruct our democratic activities. Consequently, our cadre often face unwarranted difficulties in securing statutory permissions from the police authorities to conduct political events, despite due compliance with all legal requirements,” the party complained to the court.

Police permission
The deponent said that the party’s general secretary ‘Bussy’ Anand alias N. Anand had submitted a representation to the Tiruchi Commissioner of Police on September 6 seeking permission to conduct a peaceful campaign at police notified venues on September 13 but the representation was not duly considered within a reasonable time.

After repeated follow-ups and reminders, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Tiruchi (North) granted permission on September 10 after imposing “arbitrary, onerous, and unreasonable” conditions, which virtually defeated the very purpose of holding the campaign, the party claimed.

The realpolitik of a reel hero: journey of Vijay from screen to masses

Nevertheless, Mr. Vijay campaigned in Tiruchi on September 13, 2025, amid a huge gathering of people and the entire event was held peacefully in strict adherence to the conditions imposed by the police. Despite such demonstrated track record, the police in the State continue to impose “discriminatory and onerous” conditions only upon the TVK, while being liberal to other parties, it said.

“The leaders of the ruling party as well as the other Opposition parties are conducting regular road shows, rallies, and public meetings at places of their choice without being subjected to such unreasonable conditions. In stark contrast, whenever the petitioner party applies for permission to conduct meetings in designated areas notified by the police, onerous and impractical conditions are consistently imposed,” it added.

The party also submitted before the court a copy of the permission granted by the police to another political party with more liberal conditions, and said that it was evident that the real objective behind such restrictions was to obstruct the political campaign of the TVK at the behest of the ruling dispensation.

Vijay’s convoy causes gridlock in Tiruchi as large crowd turns up to greet him along the route

It sought a direction to the Director-General of Police/Head of Police Force to instruct his subordinates across the State to grant permission for Mr. Vijay’s campaigns between September 20 and December 20 in a fair, uniform and non-discriminatory manner.