Overview

• The Madras High Court’s Madurai Bench on July 21 issued an interim injunction preventing DMK from sending OTP verification messages as part of its statewide ‘Oraniyil Tamil Nadu’ digital membership drive pending detailed review of privacy rights under Article 21.
• DMK has denied collecting Aadhaar numbers or other personal documents, arguing that OTPs were used only to record voluntary consent for membership enrolment.
• The party has paused its door-to-door enrolment activities in compliance with the interim order and urged the court for an expedited hearing.
• The bench has directed the party, central and state governments, the Election Commission and UIDAI to file affidavits on consent mechanisms, data privacy policies and security measures.
• A DMK functionary filed an impleading petition on July 22 seeking to vacate the OTP restriction, with the next hearing scheduled in two weeks after counter-affidavits are submitted.