Recommendations of ADR to scrap electoral bonds, bring it under RTI

Times of India: Nisha Nambiar: New Delhi: Tuesday, January 22, 2020.

The Association of Democratic Reforms an organisation working in the area of political reforms has recommended that electoral bonds infringe the citizens' fundamental ‘Right to Know’ by withholding crucial information regarding electoral funding (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/electoral-funding). "Such opaqueness is at the cost of larger public interest and is a severe blow to the very fundamentals of transparency and accountability and therefore Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 should be entirely scrapped," stated their recommendation put up on Tuesday. 

They have demanded that all National and Regional political parties must provide all information on the funds received through Electoral Bonds under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Full details of all donors should be made available for public scrutiny under the RTI.

The ECI/CBDT/CAG or any other relevant institution should be entrusted with the responsibility to oversee that there is no discrepancy between the value of Electoral Bonds redeemed and the value of donations received through Electoral Bonds by the political parties, and whether only entitled political parties are receiving funding via Electoral Bonds.