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TN parties meet to draft SOP for political rallies on HC order
The HC last week directed the state government to submit a draft SOP based on a petition filed by actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) at whose rally 41 people died in a stampede in Karur on the night of September 27. The SOP is aimed at averting such a tragedy
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government convened a consultative meeting on Thursday with all political parties to frame a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for conducting political campaigns in Tamil Nadu based on a Madras high court directive following the Karur stampede in which 41 people died. The guidelines would be significant as the state faces assembly elections next year.
Senior DMK ministers K N Nehru (Municipal Administration), S Regupathy (Law) and M Subramanian (Health) along with the chief secretary N Murganantham led the meeting which was attended by recognised political parties and the parties which have representation in Parliament and the legislative Assembly.
The ruling DMK’s organising secretary R S Bharathi represents the party while the main opposition AIADMK deputed its organising secretary D Jayakumar and Rajya Sabha MP I S Inbadurai. DMK’s ally Congress’ Tamil Nadu president K Selvaperunthagai participated.
“The guidelines will not curtail the powers of the district and police authorities,” said a leader who participated in the meeting. The draft also proposed a refundable security deposit based on the size of the expected crowd. The government did not release the draft SOP.
The HC last week directed the state government to submit a draft SOP based on a petition filed by actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) at whose rally 41 people died in a stampede in Karur on the night of September 27. The SOP is aimed at averting such a tragedy.
The government as directed by the court will submit the draft SOP before the bench of Chief Justice M M Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan by November 11. The bench on October 26 had set a 10-day deadline to the state to draw up the SOPs while hearing TVK seeking uniform conditions for conducting public rallies. A day ago Vijay accused the state police of imposing restrictions on him which no other political leader in India faces at rallies. And, if the government failed to meet the deadline, the HC said that it would issue an SOP. But, even before the court’s order, chief minister M K Stalin had announced that the government would formulate an SOP in consultation with experts, political parties, activists in the aftermath of the tragedy.
