In a move to cleanse the system of political funding, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed a ₹2,000 ceiling on cash donation by any individual to a party. Presenting the Budget, he, however, said political parties, could receive donations by cheque or digital mode from donors.
He also indicated that the Reserve Bank of India Act would be amended to facilitate issuance of electoral bonds in line with the scheme that the government would come out.
“A donor can purchase bonds from authorised banks against cheque and digital payments,’’ he said. “They shall be redeemable only in the designated account of a registered political party. And, they will be redeemable within the prescribed time limit from issuance of bonds,’’ he added. The budget also made it mandatory for political parties to file returns within a time limit.
Parties from across the political spectrum broadly welcomed these announ cements. “Any step to clean political funding will be supported by us,” Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said.
RJD MP Misa Bharati also welcomed the move. “We welcome this move for transparency in poll funding.”
JD(U) leader K. C. Tyagi said his party would push for “even more firm measures to clean up electoral funding”.
It’s hogwash: Yechury
Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), however, struck a cautious note and said the move was an “hogwash”. “The finance minister made several announcements regarding political funding, ostensibly to increase transparency and accountability. The limit of ₹2,000 on cash donations to political parties is meaningless as such transfers are mostly unreported. In the absence of a limit on corporate funding of political parties and overall limit on election expenditure of political parties, the so-called reform of political funding is nothing but a hogwash,” he said.
