(a) whether the Government proposes mandatory audit of the donations received by political parties;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether any mechanism has been developed to get the details of donations received by political parties;
(d) if so, the details thereof;
(e) whether the Government has devised/proposes to devise a system for political parties to contest election
on public expenditure; and
(f) if so, the details in this regard?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE AND COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI KAPIL SIBAL)
(a) to (d) Under section 29B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, every political party ` may accept any amount
of contribution from individuals and companies (other than Government companies) which arc voluntarily offered to it. Under
section 29C of the said Act, the parties are required to submit a Report with the Election Commission containing the details
of the contributors who have contributed a sum of more than rupees twenty thousand in a financial year, There are suggestions
for making audit of the accounts of the political parties by the auditor, approved by the Comptroller and Auditor General of
India and publication of the same. The political parties file their income-tax returns as per law and there is no decision,
as of now for mandatory audit of the donations received by the political parties. `
(e) and (f) The Government is committed to bring forward a purposive agenda for electoral reforms which, inter alia, include
funding of election. In the past, the Indrajit Gupta Committee recommended for introducing partial state funding of elections.
However, due to diverse opinion among the political parties on this issue, the recommendations could not be implemented. The
issue of electoral reforms in its entirety has been referred to the Law Commission of India with a request to consider the
issue after taking into consideration the reports of various committees in the past, views of the Election Commission and
other stake holders and suggest comprehensive measures for changes in the law. The Law Commission has been requested to give
concrete suggestions at the earliest. On receipt of the recommendations of the Law Commission, matter will be further
examined in consultation with the stake holders.