CPM warns of legal challenge to TN’s proposed regulations for political events

CHENNAI: CPM politburo member K Balakrishnan has warned that the party would legally challenge any move by the Tamil Nadu government to impose new regulations on public meetings and protests, asserting that the proposed guidelines would curtail constitutional freedoms and set a dangerous precedent.

In a video posted on YouTube on Monday, he said the CPM had strongly opposed the State’s 24-page draft report circulated at the all-party meeting held on November 6. The meeting, attended by senior Ministers, the Chief Secretary, the DGP and leaders from more than 20 parties, was convened following two separate Madras High Court directions seeking a framework for regulating political events and recovering damages caused to public property.

Balakrishnan said the CPM objected in particular to the proposal requiring political parties to pay deposits running into lakhs of rupees based on the expected crowd size. “Demanding deposits of such magnitude is unreasonable and unjustified. No State in the country follows such a system. Introducing it in Tamil Nadu will create a harmful precedent,” he said.

He added that the Public Property Damages Act already provides a mechanism for the government to recover compensation when damage occurs, making a deposit system unnecessary. Existing procedures for obtaining permission to conduct meetings and rallies were adequate, he said.

The CPM also opposed proposed conditions such as seeking permission 15 days in advance, new venue restrictions and additional procedural requirements. These, he said, would undermine the rights to speech, assembly and protest protected under Article 19 of the Constitution. “If such rules are implemented, no democratic movement or protest will be possible in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Balakrishnan urged the State government to reject the draft entirely and file an affidavit before the High Court stating its opposition to the deposit system and added restrictions. Any attempt to modify the draft and submit it as a formal affidavit, he warned, would compel the CPM to contest the matter legally and politically.

He said the party had conveyed its objections during the all-party meeting and would submit them in writing to the Chief Secretary. Tamil Nadu, he said, should not become a State that limits democratic rights while claiming to resist the authoritarian tendencies of the Union government.