Suspecting money laundering, EC to ask IT to look into funds

The Election Commission would write to Income Tax authorities asking them to look into the finances of over 200 political parties it has 'delisted' for not contesting elections, suspecting these could have been used for converting black money into white.
The poll panel believes that most of them exist on papers to help people convert their back money into white by accepting donations.
The EC has, over a period of time, identified various parties which have not contested polls since 2005 and 'delisted' over 200 of them.
In the next few days, the Commission will send the list of these delisted parties to the income tax authorities seeking action against them under relevant laws if they are found to be involved in money laundering.

The poll panel has the mandate to register a political party but does not have the power under electoral laws to deregister any party.
As its demand for power to deregister a party is pending with the Law Ministry, the Commission used its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution to delist parties for being dormant and not contesting elections for a long time.
There are over 1780 registered but unrecognised political parties in the country. Besides, there are seven national parties -- BJP, Congress, BSP, TMC, CPI, CMI-M and NCP -- and 58 state parties.
Seeking to stem flow of black money in elections, the Commission has proposed a slew of electoral reforms but most are pending with the government.