Specifically, the parties have opposed disclosure of anonymous unaccounted receipts and demanded that the EC circular on the issue be withdrawn. The total income of these parties, reluctant to abide by disclosure norms, has been close to Rs 1,000 crore in 2012-13.
The ruling BJP has not yet responded.
All these parties, including the BJP, have collected more than Rs 5,800 crore in the last ten years but they refuse to reveal the names of all their contributors. Funds from unnamed donors constitute up to 90% of total income of many of these parties (100% in case of the BSP).
The Congress has challenged the Election Commission's (EC) powers to ask parties to record each donation less than Rs 20,000, audit the same and report it to the poll watchdog. Motilal Vora, veteran Congress leader and treasurer of the party, has written to EC saying it must refer this matter to the law ministry as the commission is not competent to ask for names of each donor and make it mandatory for parties to get their entire account audited and submitted to the commission.
The EC had in a directive issued on August 29 asked parties to follow certain transparency guidelines. They require parties to maintain names of individuals, companies and entities making donations, even if less than Rs 20,000, except petty sums donated by the public during rallies, and deposit the amount collected into the party's authorized bank accounts within a week of receipt.
What has also rattled these parties is the fact that EC had asked these parties to make all future payments exceeding Rs 20,000 through cheque/draft only. Implementation of this guideline was intended to bring down black money in polls.
http://ift.tt/1paFR9j parties,Election Commission,EC Transparency Norms
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