Actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) is not a recognised political party, the Election Commission of India (ECI) informed the Madras High Court on October 17, 2025. This submission was made before the First Bench of Chief Justice M S Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking to derecognise the TVK following a tragic stampede at the party’s political rally in Karur on September 27, which caused 41 deaths.The ECI’s counsel Niranjan Rajagopal clarified that TVK had not met the criteria set by the ECI to qualify as a recognised state political party. According to ECI norms, recognition requires a party to secure at least 6% of valid votes and two Assembly seats or one Lok Sabha seat, among other benchmarks, which TVK has not fulfilled.
The PIL, filed by Selvakumar, also sought to hold Vijay accountable for allegedly mobilizing women and children unlawfully, contributing to the high casualties during the stampede.
The court noted that the Supreme Court has ordered a CBI probe into the incident. Additionally, the petitioner requested a strict ban on bringing children and women to political rallies, processions, and campaigns across Tamil Nadu, in compliance with an ECI directive dated February 5, 2024, and demanded that all recognized parties submit undertakings to adhere to these rules, with derecognition as a potential consequence for violations.
Following submissions, the Madras High Court directed the registry to consolidate all cases related to the Karur stampede before a special bench, excluding those pending in the Supreme Court, to handle the matter systematically.This development highlights both the legal and political ramifications of the Karur tragedy and the current status of TVK as a nascent and unrecognised political entity in Tamil Nadu.