Political parties are the main instrument for running a country along democratic arrangement. There can be any number of political parties though some democracies have the tradition of carrying on only bi-party system as in the US. However, in all democracies, including our country, political parties, when registered with the office of the Election Commission, have to observe rules and procedures laid down by the EC. The rules cannot be violated. If a political party is seriously interested in active participation in country’s political exercise, it has to observe the rules and norms.
According to Section 29C of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951, political parties registered with the Election Commission of India are required to submit their annual return of income from donations, private individuals or organizations, to the Election Commission. On the basis of this report, the concerned political party claims exemption from Income Tax, which again is provided in the Act. As we know checks and balances are an essential feature of democracies and submission of income from donations is part of that practice. According to information obtained from dependable sources, the total income on account of donations for all political parties in the country for the financial year 2013-14 has been to the tune of Rupees 20,000 crore. Surprisingly not all the known national level political parties have submitted the report for which November 30, 2014 was the last date. The question arises will these defaulting parties be entitled to claim tax exemption or not? Who is to decide the issue, the Election Commission of India or the Income Tax Department?
Among major parties that have submitted their report of income from donations for the current financial year are Congress and NCP. The former has received donation to above 66 crore rupees while the NCP has received donations to the tune of 14 crore rupees. BJP, TRS, TD (U) and some more parties are among those who have not submitted the report. The reason for these parties not submitting reports within the stipulated time are not known, but the question which people would like to ask is what action the EC is going to take against these defaulters? In the first place, it is unbecoming for a big national level political party like BJP not to have filed the report in time and thus given the opportunity to its opponents to cry wolf.
Going through the details of income through donations in respect of a number of political parties in the country, we come across very amusing things that give rise to many suspicions and questions. For example, take the case of Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav. The report of income submitted by the party officially is that a total of rupees 1.69 crore have been received by the party in the shape of six cheques issued by one person, a lady in Kolkata. Common sense would not accept this to be true. It does create some doubts in our mind. Likewise, almost similar is the case of some more parties when we scrutinize their sources of income. There is no restriction on individuals or organizations making as much of donations as they like or afford. The law does not restrict them. But what the law wants is to know the right source from which donation has been received. Legality of the source has to be scrutinized and that is the job of the Income Tax Department. National Conference is among the defaulters for not submitting the report.
It may not be that easy for the Election Commission to know wherefrom the donating source has obtained the money nor is it its concern. Actually it is the Income Tax Department that should go into the details of income of any organization or individual. This notwithstanding, the general impression with the people is that there are big wigs in the financial sector in our country who can afford to pay big monies to political parties only to receive special favours and privileges when the party is returned to power. This is an indirect method of bribing political party so as to win favours from it when it is catapulted into the seat of power. This is not just a conjecture but a reality that has been exposed many a time in the past. Such clandestine activities cast a shadow on the fairness of our Parliamentary or Assembly elections. How effectively are we able to stem this rot from our political life is a big question? There are political parties that, for the sake of jumping in the seat of power and authority are prepared to go to any length in doing irregularities and violation of rules. All that we can say is that some effective mechanism needs to be evolved to obstruct illegal flow of money in the shape of donations to the parties. We also strongly express our resentment against the defaulting parties and impress upon the Election Commission and the IT Department to deal strictly with those parties that want to take law into their hands.
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