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Image Credits: Twitter/ Rajiv Kumar, ECI
Election Commission Writes To Law Ministry, Seeks Restrictions On Cash Donations To Political Parties
Writer: Ronit Kumar Singh
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India, 20 Sep 2022 8:11 AM GMT
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Creatives : Ronit Kumar Singh
A confident and reliable journalist who always desires to toss the unheard voices. I cover politics and governance extensively through stories.
The Election Commission of India has proposed to bring down the anonymous donations to political parties from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000 and cap cash donations at 20% or a maximum of Rs 20 crore to cleanse election funding of black money.
As a step to cleanse election funding of black money, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has proposed to cap cash donations to political parties at 20 per cent or a maximum of Rs 20 Crore and bring down the anonymous donations from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000 on Monday (September 19).
According to officials, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Rajiv Kumar, has written a letter to the Union Law Minister Kirren Rijiju proposing the aforementioned amendments in the Representation of the People (RP) Act, The Hindu reported. The recommendation aims to build more robust reforms and transparency in donations to several political parties.
Income Tax Raids Across Country
The move of ECI comes after the poll panel delisted 284 parties and declared them inactive based on defaulting and non-compliance with ECI norms. The recommendation of the CEC to the central government for an amendment to the RP Act comes after several Income Tax raids conducted across the country.
The income tax raids highlighted hundreds of crores received by the political parties in the name of donations. Notably, during the raid conducted against several unrecognised parties in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a party was identified operating from a watch repair shop and had accepted Rs 370 crore in donations in the past few years. However, the party president was unidentified.
Similar raids conducted across India, especially in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, highlighted that the political parties are receiving a huge number of donations without any donation certificate.
Once the proposal by the ECI is accepted, the political parties will have to reveal the sources of donations above Rs 2,000, as earlier, they used to reveal the sources of donations over Rs 20,000. It would bring transparency to all funding levels, and all donations will be reported through the contribution report.
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