CEC Rajiv Kumar writes to law ministry to cap cash donation to political parties
Sep 20, 2022
New Delhi [India], September 20 : Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar has written a letter to the law ministry to cap the cash donations to political parties.
In his letter written to Union law Minister Kiren Rijiju, CEC has proposed to cap cash donation at 20 per cent or at Rs 20 crore whichever is lower, sources told ANI.
The Election Commission has proposed bringing down anonymous political donations from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000 to cleanse election funding of black money, sources said on Monday.
In the letter, CEC has recommended a slew of amendments to the Representation of the People (RP) Act.
According to the proposal, political parties are not required to report the cash received below Rs 2000.
As per rules in force currently, political parties have to disclose all donations above Rs 20,000 through their contribution report that is submitted to the Election Commission.
The move comes in the backdrop of the poll panel recently delisting 284 defaulting and non-compliant registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs), declaring more than 253 of them inactive.
Earlier this month the Income Tax department conducted raids in multiple states as part of a pan-India tax evasion probe against certain registered unrecognised political parties (RUPP) and their alleged dubious financial transactions. The action has been taken by the department on a recent recommendation of the Election Commission which recently struck off at least 198 entities from its list of RUPP after they were found non-existent during physical verification.
The poll panel had announced that it was taking action against more than 2,100 entities, categorised as RUPP by it, for flouting rules and election laws, including those related to the filing of monetary contributions, failing to update their address and names of office bearers.
