Political Parties have to follow the
interim order given by Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on 12th April 2019 passed interim
directions, directing political parties to provide full information on each and
every political donor and contributions made through electoral bonds in sealed
cover to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Elections are costly
The cost of elections and campaign remain in thousands of crores, and there were different occasions when transparency of electoral funding came into lime light.
Since 2016, the government strived to take this
issue at serious note and brought Finance Act 2016, and 2017.
Therefore, electoral bonds were introduced with the
intention of keeping the funding of political parties transparent during
elections.
The reality of the world when it comes to election
is bitter. The democratic will has less voice among the crowd who is less
educated, and uninterested in Politics.
 |
| Get Now! |
The black money is often used in
elections, and it breaks the soul of the democracy. When elections are
manipulated in different ways, as through illegal flow of cash- the money is
distributed to buy votes, and alcohol is also distributing at some place.
Election commission works but the
population is large, and everywhere everything does not come at surface. There
has been a series of events and decisions to prevent illegal flow of money
during elections. One among them is – the scheme of electoral bonds.
Foreign corporate powers can interfere, the poll
panel tells Supreme Court in the end of March 2019
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has
told the Supreme Court that electoral bonds, contrary to government claims,
wreck transparency in political funding.
Coupled with the removal of cap on foreign funding,
they invite foreign corporate powers to impact Indian politics, it said in an
affidavit filed in the apex court.
Besides detailing how donations received through
electoral bonds would cause a “serious impact” on transparency in funding of political
parties, The ECI ripped apart amendments made to various key statutes
through the two consecutive Finance Acts of 2016 and 2017.
These amendments would pump in black money for
political funding through shell companies and allow unchecked foreign funding.
What are electoral bonds?
Electoral bonds are different type of
bearer bond- that means a debt instrument. In simple words earlier political
parties used to ask for donations, which attracted huge amount of black money.
Political parties have to issue these bonds- and people who want to do charity,
now can purchase a bond.
As per provisions of the Scheme,
electoral bonds may be purchased by a citizen of India, or entities
incorporated or established in India.
A person being an individual can buy
electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals. Only the registered
Political Parties which have secured not less than one per cent of the votes
polled in the last Lok Sabha elections or the State Legislative Assembly are
eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds.
The electoral bonds are aimed at
rooting out the current system of largely anonymous cash donations made to
political parties which lead to the generation of black money in the economy.
The Apple of Discard since the
beginning
The conflict remains as electoral bonds
have been introduced but no records are kept of the owner or the transactions
involving ownership. Anyone who holds them physically holds mere papers. A
donor does not need the identity and political party would not be required by
law to ask questions.
These can be bought for any value, in
multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh or Rs 1 crore.
The Finance Act of 2017 amends various laws,
including the Representation of the People Act of 1951, the Income Tax Act and
the Companies Act.
It did allow political parties ‘to skip’ recordings
of donations received by them through electoral bonds in their contribution as
amendment allowed the ‘anonymous donations’.
Donors of the political parties are not required to
provide their names, address or PAN if they have contributed less than Rs
20,000.
Therefore, the election commission observed that
many political parties showed maximum donation received less than the
prescribed limit of 20,000.
In 2016, the finance act opened the door for
donations to be received from foreign companies.
Why should citizen be aware and care about
it?
The political parties receive enormous amount of
cash flow and these donations are often given by a group of super rich
individuals and that gives these rich individuals a control over politics.
According to ADR report released in August revealed
that between the financial year 2012-13 to 2015-16, national parties received
Rs 355.08 crore from 1,546 donations which did not have addresses and PAN
details in the contribution form. 99% of such donations belonged to the
powerful national party. EB acts as a catalyst for such anonymity and
corruption.
Former Election Commissioner SY Quraishi suggested
an alternative to electoral bonds – a National Electoral Fund where donors can
contribute and the accumulated fund would be allocated to political parties
depending on the proportion of votes secured.
Know About it!
|
