The Print: New Delhi: Sunday, June 17, 2018.
RTI shows EC didn’t follow up on letter after
raising concerns; parties don’t have to reveal names of electoral bond
contributors.
The Election Commission’s transparency concerns
over amendments made to the Finance Bill, 2017, before the government
introduced electoral bonds, “appear to be genuine”, the law ministry had told
the finance ministry last year.
This was revealed in a government response to an
RTI filed by activist Lokesh Batra.
In a letter to the law ministry last year, the EC
had severely criticised the four amendments made to different acts of the 2017
Bill, calling them a “retrograde step”.
Following the concerns expressed by the EC, the
law ministry sent the expenditures department of the Finance Ministry three
letters highlighting the issue, but there was no response from the latter.
“It is stated that the concern expressed by the
Election Commission regarding proviso of 29C appears genuine (para 2). It is
further proposed that necessary changes in section 29C of the RP Act, 1951, in
consonance of Section 13A of the Income Tax Act may be made,” the law ministry
wrote.
Bonds not under RP Act ambit
According to Section 29C of the Representation of
Peoples Act, 1951, all political parties must declare donations above Rs 20,000
to the Election Commission every year. However, according to the amendment made
by the government last year, it was proposed that the contributions received
through electoral bonds would be excluded from the ambit of the RP Act.
“This is a retrograde step as far as transparency
of donations is concerned and this proviso needs to be withdrawn,” the Election
Commission had said in its letter to the law ministry last year.
The finance ministry, on the other hand, had said
the electoral bonds scheme, announced during the 2017 Budget, would increase
transparency and “cleanse the system of political funding in the country”.
“But what is important to note is also that EC has
not followed up on its own letter,” said Batra, whose application under the RTI
Act revealed the communication from the law ministry to the finance ministry.
Curiously, months after the damning letter, which
raised crucial concerns on electoral bonds, the former chief election
commissioner A.K. Joti described the scheme “as one step towards the right
direction.” Since then, there has been no communication whatsoever from the EC
on the issue.
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