Political parties may soon have to declare details of the sum total of all small contributions from the same donor that amount to less than Rs 20,000 each, the Election Commission of India has suggested among other poll reforms. (Source: HT)
- Political parties have to at present disclose details of donations of Rs. 20,000 or more to the poll watchdog, including the entity they received it from.
- But individual payments under Rs. 20,000 are not subject to the same disclosure rules.
- The commission has now sought an amendment to Form 24A, recommending that the form be modified so that the total contribution received in the same year from the same donor in smaller amounts that total Rs. 20,000 or more is also mentioned.
Key provisions
- According to section 29B of Representation of People’s Act, every political party may accept any amount of contribution voluntarily offered to it by any person or company other than a Government company provided that no political party shall be eligible to accept any contribution from any foreign source defined under clause (e) of section 2 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976.
- Section 29C of Representation of People’s Act states that the treasurer of a political party or any other person authorised by the political party in this behalf shall, in each financial year, prepare a report in respect of the contribution in excess of 20,000 rupees received by such political party from any person in that financial year.
- Furthermore, under Section 29-C of the RPA, it is made mandatory for the political parties to submit to the Election Commission a list of donations they received of over Rs. 20,000 in Form 24-A and where such a political party fails to submit a report then such political party shall not be entitled to any tax relief under that Act.
- Section 293A of Company’s Act, 1956 states that no Government company and no other company which has been in existence for less than three financial years, shall contribute any amount or amounts, directly or indirectly to any political party or for any political purpose to any person.
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