The story of unknown

We make a law and then we find loopholes in it and then we use it to serve our own purpose.

By law if the amount donated to a political party is below INR 20,000, they need not reveal the source of the funds. Three quarter of the funds garnered by them in recent years fall into this category.

The analysis reveals that known donors including electoral trusts accounted for only a fraction of the total income of these parties totalling Rs 4,895.96 crores during this period. After taking into account income from other known sources such as sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy, sale of coupons etc, about three-quarters of their income fell into the 'unknown' category.

 

"Since a very large percent of the income of political parties cannot be traced to the original donor, full details of all donors should be made available for public scrutiny under the RTI. Some countries where this is done include Bhutan, Nepal, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, Bulgaria, the US and Japan. In none of these countries is it possible for 75 per cent of the source of funds to be unknown, but at present it is so in India," said an ADR statement.

The Stockholm‐based International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) had stated, "India is … among a mere 10 per cent of countries in the world to allow either political parties or candidates to receive anonymous donations’.

Six electoral trusts had made contributions totalling Rs 105.86 crores - mostly to the Congress (I) and BJP - during this period: General Electoral Trust of the Aditya Birla Group, Electoral Trust of Tata Sons, Bharti Electoral Trust of Bharti Enterprises, Satya Electoral Trust, Harmony Electoral Trust and Corporate Electoral Trust.

Source: The Hindu