The Election Commission of India’s (ECI’s) ongoing drive to clean up the electoral space has now gone “beyond RUPPs” (registered unrecognised political parties) to cover recognised national and State parties, according to a top EC official on September 20.
The EC has delisted or declared as inactive 537 registered unrecognised political parties since May for failing to comply with various rules and misusing the Income Tax exemption given to them. The senior official said while taking action against the non-complying RUPPs, another discrepancy came to light, one that impacts recognised parties too. While the Income Tax Act allows cash donations of up to ₹2,000 only, the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires parties to submit details to the EC of donations of above ₹20,000 each. The official said parties were taking in donations of below ₹20,000 each and collecting cash as well through sale of coupons at rallies.
“One regional party has shown ₹1 lakh in its contribution report, but when you see the account statement, its shows ₹20 to ₹30 crore,” the official said.
Last week, Chief Election Commission Rajiv Kumar wrote to the Law Ministry proposing changes to the mandatory reporting of donations by parties, according to another EC official. The EC proposed that parties should declare each donation over ₹2,000, rather than the existing limit of ₹20,000 and above. The senior official added that some parties had claimed a number of small donations that was larger than the population of the respective states.
The EC also proposed making April 1 the cut-off date for the parties to share their contribution reports so that they can be matched with Income Tax returns. The senior official said the EC proposed capping the amount of cash donations a party can receive to 20% of the total or ₹20 crore. The commission also recommended asking parties to declare that they haven’t received any foreign funds, through an explicit statement in the Form 24-A for claiming Income Tax exemption.
