Parties and Public money

A new debate is now doing the rounds after the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to the major political parties to disclose the complete details of their income as well as expenditure. The question here is should a court come forward and direct the political parties to reveal their income. Well, the political parties, which stand for the people and which belong to the people and which thrive because of the people’s money and which receives donations has a moral right to tell the people about its assets and also the money that has been collected and that is spent.

If a political party has got a donation from you, it is your right to know what has happened to your donation. Most of the political parties seek donations and funds but when asking how they spend the money, they are mostly arrogant. The local politicians just say that everything is accountable. Some of them even say that all the accounts are verified by upper levels of the party. But is it that the party should only know how much money has been collected and what has been done with the money collected. Well, according to all political parties, the people don’t have any right to question the donations but only has to give it. Nothing should be asked but only to be donated… the motto of all political parties.

Rather than waiting for any court to give directions, the political parties should have to show the courage to say they are ready to reveal everything. They should have the boldness to tell about all the money that they have collected from the people.

However, it is hardly that any political party would be revealing its source of income, financial transparency and accountability in their working. How can the name of the donors, who have pumped in black money into the parties, are revealed. How dare the parties reveal the lavish expenditure of its own leaders at the hands of the public? How come the party can talk about the extravaganza….

According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Put together, the six political parties— Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI), and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)—had total income of Rs.4,895.96 crore from 2004-05 to 2011-12. This was based on analysis of the income-tax returns and statements filed by the parties to the Election Commission.