The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Union Home Ministry and the Election Commission on foreign contributions received by major political parties.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud and Justice Rituraj Awasthi passed the order on a public interest litigation petition filed by social activist and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member Nutan Thakur.
Terming the Ministry’s recent order for inquiry into the AAP’s foreign funding a “one-sided” action, the petitioner demanded that the probe be extended to other parties as well.
The Bench sought a response on the action taken so far in the petitioner’s previous complaints, which pertained to alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA) by the Congress and the BJP. The parties allegedly received donations of around Rs. 5 crore each from Vedanta Group subsidiaries — Sterlite Industries and Sesa Goa.
