Madras HC advises EC not to recognise a political party unless it has at least 25,000 members

Observing that a lot of unrecognised political parties have been started in Tamil Nadu with the intention of extorting money from people, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday advised the Election Commission to only recognise a political party if it has at least 25,000 members.

A division bench of Justice Kirubakaran and Justice Pugazhendhi said that the public faces a lot of problems by such letter pad parties and added that the Election Commission should take action to prevent this.

The bench subsequently asked the Election Commission, the Home Ministry and the Legal Department to respond to the matter and adjourn the hearing for a later date.

The High Court was hearing a petition, filed by the Tamil National Party General Secretary Tamilnesan, seeking action against an Oxygen cylinder company operating in Trichy, Azure, claiming that the company did not obtain some permits.

The plea claimed that there is a situation where the public and livestock in the town are in danger if something untoward happens. "On January 5, 2020, a similar cylinder company was involved in an accident in Gujarat, causing extensive damage. Therefore, the company should be banned from operating," the plea said.

The bench, while dismissing the lawsuit, observed that the plea was filed with an intention to extort money and said that oxygen is one of the essentials in the present corona period.

"Like this, a lot of unrecognized letter pad political parties have been started in Tamil Nadu with the intention of extorting money from many. The public faces many problems caused by such letter-bad parties. The Election Commission should take action to prevent this," the bench said.

( With inputs from ANI )