The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday, July 21, ordered an injunction on the DMK’s digital membership drive campaign Oraniyil Tamil Nadu, launched earlier this month.
The court directed the DMK to provide details on the data privacy policy employed in the membership campaign, ensure the security of the data collected, and clarify whether “informed consent” is obtained from individuals in this membership drive.
A bench of Justices AD Maria Clete and SM Subramaniam passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation filed by S Rajkumar from Thirupavanam taluk in Sivagangai district. He alleged that the DMK and its functionaries were collecting Aadhaar numbers, voter IDs, and other personal information, as well as collecting phone numbers and enrolling people without their knowledge or consent. The State and Union governments and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) are party to the case, along with the DMK and the Sivaganga District Collector.
The court noted that there was concern about a data breach associated with the collection of personal information and the use of OTP verification during door-to-door membership drives. “Data protection and voter data privacy are the essential facets of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and falls within the ambit of right to privacy,” the court noted.
It further said, “In the absence of accountability and transparency in the data collected from individuals across the State of Tamil Nadu for the Oraniyil Tamil Nadu by door-to-door membership drive is an issue which needs elaborate analysis.”
The court also expressed concern that the data collected could be used by third-party companies who manage this data for the parties. It stated that the infrastructure available for collection and protection of the data was not made clear and that data protection and voter privacy were crucial to the right to privacy. The judges also opined that the data regarding political preference could be used to disenfranchise voters through voter surveillance.
“The expression of political beliefs is guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a). Forming political beliefs and opinions is the first stage of political expression. The freedom of political expression cannot be exercised freely in the absence of privacy of political affiliation. Information about a person’s political beliefs can be used by the State at a political level, to suppress dissent, and at a personal level, to discriminate by denying employment or subjecting them to trolls. The lack of privacy of political affiliation would also disproportionately affect those whose political views do not match the views of the mainstream,” the court said, quoting a previous order by the Supreme Court.