Letters: Sources of poll funding

With reference to “A modest beginning” (February 6), under the Representation of the People Act, 1983, and Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act, 2000, political parties in the UK are required to disclose the names and addresses of donors contributing over £7,500 per year. They are further required to make this information available on the website of the election commission. Similarly, in the US, the Federal Election Campaign Act, 1971, prohibits direct corporate contributions and limits individual contributions to a single candidate or Political Action Committee. Any committee receiving total contributions of over $10,000 per annum is required to report all contributions of over $200 per year.
 
In the Union Budget 2017-18, by reducing the maximum amount of cash donation that a political party can receive from an anonymous source from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000, the government seems to have walked the talk on bringing transparency in political funding. The proposed amendment to the Reserve Bank of India Act to enable issuance of electoral bonds further reiterates its resolve to fight black money. However, in this bureaucratic sleight of hand, it has dodged the real question of investigating the funding sources of political parties. Nor has it laid down any penal provision in this regard. Also, political parties, owing to their partisan nature, should be mandated to disclose information sought under the Right to Information Act to bring transparency in their otherwise obscure way of functioning. It is time the government addressed this incoherence in electoral politics.

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