Foreign funding of Cong, BJP a matter of public interest: HC

The Allahabad High Court has converted the petition filed to inquire into the foreign contributions to Congress, BJP and other political parties as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

The bench of Justice Devi Prasad Singh and Justice Ashok Pal Singh yesterday reasoned that because the matter has a wider public realm it should be treated as a PIL, social activist and member of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Nutan Thakur, who filed the petition on October 6, said today.

The High Court has directed that the matter be heard on Wednesday by the PIL bench.

The order hence brought forth the lack of transparency in the election funds of big and small parties. While both Congress and BJP denied to declare their source of funds, the AAP happened to be the only party that has clarified its sources of money.

However, the Home Ministry has ordered an inquiry into AAP's funding from abroad, especially from the NRIs.

The petition described the Ministry's action against AAP as "one-sided" demanding it to be extended to other political parties too.

Thakur had also sent a letter to the Home Ministry to probe into the alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA) by Congress and BJP for receiving donations of about Rs 5 crore each from Vedanta Group subsidiaries.