Plea in Supreme Court to bring political parties under ambit of RTI law

A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking to bring political parties under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act to make them accountable and to curb the use of black money in elections.

The petition, filed by Delhi BJP spokesperson and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, also sought direction to the Centre to take steps to deal with the menace of corruption and communalisation.

"Declare the political parties, registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a 'Public Authority' under Section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, to make them transparent and accountable to the people and curb use of black money in elections," it said.

The PIL sought a direction to the Election Commission of India to ensure compliance of the RTI Act and other laws related to political parties and deregister them if they fail to abide by them.

"Direct the Election Commission to ensure compliance of the Representation of the People Act, Right to Information Act, Income Tax Act and other Election Laws and Rules so for as they relate to Political Parties and de-register them if they fail to comply with the Election Laws and Rules," it said.

Highlighting the instances of corruption and indirect funding to political parties, the petition said the central and state governments have allotted land/buildings and other accommodation in prime locations to the parties all over the country either free of cost or on concessional rates.

"This amounts to indirect financing of the political parties. Doordarshan allots free airtime to political parties during the elections. This is another instance of indirect financing," it alleged.

"If closely monitored and totalled, the full amount of public funds spent on Political Parties would possibly amount to thousands of crores," it said.

It also said that "a body or entity does not become a political party in the legal sense until the Election Commission under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act registers it. Therefore, this registration lends it the colour of Public Authority.