The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is ruling at the Centre, is yet to file the mandatory report on income and expenditure during 2013-14 to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
“The due date for submission of annual audited accounts for the parties was 30th Nov,’14… BJP, in its letter dated 9th July ’15, had requested for 4 weeks’ time but is yet to file the required reports,” said a release by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-profit election watchdog.
As per the ECI’s letter dated November 10, 2014 issued to the President/General Secretary of all political parties, it is mandatory for the parties to submit details of their audited report to the Commission.
ADR, which analysed the total income and expenditure incurred by the national parties during 2013-14, as declared by the parties in their income tax returns submitted to the ECI, said out of the six parties, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Nationalist Congress Party had submitted their audited report. The Congress submitted its report ‘under protest’ stating that unless necessary amendments were made in the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, the ECI did not have the power to demand such reports from the parties.
The total income declared by national parties in 2013-2014, stood at Rs. 844.71 crore, with the Congress showing the highest income of Rs. 598.06 crore, ADR said in a release. The second highest income was declared by CPI(M) at Rs. 121.87 crore.
Coupon sales was one of the major sources of income, with Congress declaring collections of Rs. 477.316 crore, while NCP declared Rs. 8.32 crore from coupon sales.
However, the total income of political parties from unknown sources (income specified in the IT returns whose sources are unknown), for 2013-14 was Rs. 673.08 crore, which is 79.68 per cent of the total income of the parties, said ADR, which has been demanding that full details of all donors to political parties should be made available for public scrutiny under the Right to Information Act.
