Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar proposed the amendment to the Representation of the People (RP) Act to “cleanse the political funding landscape” in a letter to the law minister Kiren Rijiju.
The Election Commission of India has suggested in a draft amendment that cash donations of above Rs 2,000 to political parties can not stay anonymous, down from the present ceiling of Rs 20,000. It also sought that the donations can not be more than Rs 20 crore or 20%, whichever is lower.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar proposed the amendment to the Representation of the People (RP) Act to “cleanse the political funding landscape” in a letter to the law minister Kiren Rijiju.
At present, political parties have to disclose details of cash donations of Rs 20,000 or more to the poll watchdog, including the entity they received it from.
The commission found that while some parties reported no donation, their audited account statements showed receipt of huge amounts that proved the large-scale transactions of amounts more than the threshold of Rs 20,000.
The proposed amendment is required to be made in Rule 89 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
The commission has also sought Electoral Reforms to ensure no foreign donations creep into the funds of the parties as stipulated under the RP Act and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010. At present, there isn’t any mechanism to segregate foreign donations at the initial stages.
Recent actions by EC
The decision comes shortly after EC recently delisted 284 non-existent RUPPs and declared 253 as inactive. With the latest order, the number of flagged political parties has risen to 537.
The IT department raided over 50 locations in states as part of the tax invasion probe against RUPPs on September 7. The department has amassed over Rs 4,000 crore worth of donations in the past three financial years.
The commission said that in 2018-19, 199 RUPPs took the benefit of income tax exemptions amounting to Rs 447 crore and 219 RUPPs amounting to Rs 609 crore in 2019-20.
Also read: 253 political parties inactive, and 86 others delisted by Election Commission
