The Hindu: New Delhi: Monday, September 30, 2013.
A large chunk
of the funds raised by the six national political parties between 2004-05 and
2011-12 came from sources that have been described as 'unknown', reveals a
recent analysis made by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National
Election Watch.
The bulk of
the funds national political parties in India garner are from sources that they
are not obliged to reveal because the donation falls in the below Rs 20,000
range, said an analysis made by the two organisations. The parties included in
the analysis were Congress (I), BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPI (M) and the data
relating to known donors was sourced from contribution statements submitted by
them to the Election Commission of India between 2004-2005 and 2011-12. The
'unknown' source income figures were derived from the IT returns filed by the
parties.
Of these
parties, the CPI was the only one whose income from unknown sources - Rs 1.47
crores, was less that the funds garnered from known sources - Rs 8.54 crores.
The analysis
reveals that known donors including electoral trusts accounted for only a
fraction of the total income of these parties totalling Rs 4,895.96 crores
during this period. After taking into account income from other known sources
such as sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications,
party levy, sale of coupons etc, about three-quarters of their income fell into
the 'unknown' category.
"Since a
very large percent of the income of political parties cannot be traced to the
original donor, full details of all donors should be made available for public
scrutiny under the RTI. 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 per cent of the source of funds to be
unknown, but at present it is so in India," said an ADR statement.
The Stockholm‐based International Institute of
Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) had stated, "India is … among a
mere 10 per cent of countries in the world to allow either political parties or
candidates to receive anonymous donations’.
Six electoral
trusts had made contributions totalling Rs 105.86 crores - mostly to the
Congress (I) and BJP - during this period: General Electoral Trust of the
Aditya Birla Group, Electoral Trust of Tata Sons, Bharti Electoral Trust of
Bharti Enterprises, Satya Electoral Trust, Harmony Electoral Trust and
Corporate Electoral Trust.
Details of
donors who account for contributions by electoral trusts should be available in
the public domain for better transparency. The Finance Bill introduced in 2009
has stipulated that 95 per cent of the income of such trusts should be donated
to political parties. Whether this is being done has to be verified, ADR has
reccommended.
Electoral
trusts should also not be permitted to accept foreign funds since foreign
funding to political parties is prohibited under law. "Subsidiaries of
foreign companies, who get around the law by registering in India, but receive
their funding from overseas, should also not be allowed to fund political
parties."
"The
National and other political parties must therefore continue to provide all
information under the Right to Information Act. This will only strengthen
political parties, elections and democracy," ADR said.
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