Fund Sources of Political Parties
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: Ocotber 14, 2014 -
The sources of funds received by the political parties have always been kept enshrouded from the public view.
The political parties claim “donation” as the sole source of funds they obtain for various purposes right from day-to-day affairs to major election campaigns.
Earlier, the Government had decided to probe foreign funding for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which made its debut in the assembly election of Delhi under the leadership of activist-turned- politician Arvind Kejriwal.
The AAP had reportedly received huge funds from aboard for its first election fight against major political parties Congress and BJP.
There have been complaints against AAP for violating the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act (FCRA) that regulates the acceptance and utilization of foreign contribution, to prohibit it from being used in ways that are detrimental to the national interest.
There is also an allegation that the Congress Party has received a whopping Rs. 2000 crores from unknown sources. The BJP too is under the scanner of election reformists for its many unknown funding sources.
It is during elections that all political parties pour out all their money to secure votes from the people. The sources of funds for the political parties need to be studied thoroughly in order to have a proper electoral system.
An analysis done by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Income Tax returns and statements filed by Congress, BJP, CPI-M, CPI, NCP and BSP with the Election Commission shows that between 2004 and 2012, these political parties received funding worth Rs. 3,675 crores through unknown sources.
The analysis shows that sources for over 75% of the funding received by political parties cannot be traced.
This becomes very relevant in the light of recent events when the political parties were brought under the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act by a ruling of Central Information Commission (CIC).
Unfortunately, full transparency is not possible under the current laws, and it is only the RTI that can keep citizens informed.
Political parties are required to submit a statement of election expenditure to the EC containing details like total amount received by them as funds in the form of cash, cheques and demand drafts (DDs) among other things.
Political parties submit these statements providing information of funds collected from the date of announcement of elections till the date of completion of elections, which could be between three weeks and three months based on the notification issued by the EC.
ADR said, “Full details of all donors should be made available for public scrutiny under the RTI Act. Some countries where this is done include Bhutan, Nepal, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, Bulgaria, the US and Japan. In none of these countries is it possible for 75% of the source of funds to be unknown, but at present it is so in India.”
In order to strengthen political parties, elections and democracy in India, it is imperative that all political parties should provide information under the RTI.
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