RTI shows EC didn’t follow up on letter after raising concerns; parties don’t have to reveal names of electoral bond contributors.
New Delhi: 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“This is a retrograde step as far as transparency of donations is concerned and this proviso needs to be withdrawn,” the Election Commission had said in its letter to the law ministry last year.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.