The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) are the two national parties which have not yet submitted details of the expenditure incurred by the parties during the Lok Sabha 2014 elections to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
According to Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), among the recognised regional parties, only 24 parties out of a total of 49 parties have submitted their Lok Sabha election expenditure statements so far.
Mr. Bhaskar Assoldekar of ADR said on Friday that the Supreme Court of India, in its judgement of Common Cause Vs. Union of India, dated April 4, 1996, had stated “…the political parties shall submit to the Election Commission, for its scrutiny, the details of the expenditure incurred or authorised by the parties in connection with the election of their respective candidates.”
The Supreme Court also stated that the ECI would be justified in asking political parties to file an account of their expenditure incurred or authorised by the parties in connection with the election of its candidates during the course of elections.
Hence, the ECI stipulated a time period of 90 days within which all national and recognised parties need to submit the expenditure the parties incurred during Lok Sabha elections. As the results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared on May 16, the parties should have filed their expenditure statements on or before August 14 this year.
