Tirupati: Need for National Election Fund for political donations stressed

Tirupati : Former Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishna Murthy said Electoral Bonds are not transparent even if of donors’ names are disclosed as they will be used by letter pad companies, loss making companies and black money contributors. Tainted money or foreign money can be disguised through unknown banana companies, he added.

Addressing the webinar on ‘Electoral Bonds in India: Is it transparent and accountable in poll funding?’, organised by the Academy of Grassroots Studies and Research of India (AGRASRI), Krishna Murthy opined that the present system does not prevent donors influencing government in policy decisions or favours in tenders, etc.

For this, he proposed two solutions: One is to remove all restrictions and allow political parties to raise openly from donors and make them disclose/subject to audit. The second alternative is the National Election Fund to get donations from any donor disclosing the names with 100 percent tax exemptions for the donors.

Elaborating the poll funding system in various western countries and particularly in Canada, the former CEC argued that the electoral reforms including a separate law regulating political parties is a must. Draft already prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms which needs to be debated and considered. None of the political parties have evinced any interest in electoral reforms as they seem to be happy with the status quo. What is striking is no political party mentions the need for electoral reforms even in their party manifestoes.

AGRASRI director Dr D Sundar Ram acted as moderator of this meeting. Another speaker Prof Madan Mohan Goel, Former Vice-Chancellor of Starex University, Gurugram, believed that there is considerable scope for improvement in bringing efficiency, sufficiency and equity in the finances, functions and functionaries of political parties which call for becoming street SMART (simple, moral, action-oriented, responsive and transparent) politicians.

Prof Sandeep Sastri, former vice-chancellor, Jagran Lake City University, Bhopal, said that the transparency and accountability in Electoral Bonds Scheme (EBS) is the need of the hour and for controlling the illegal things in the nook and corner of the country through block money and economy, the creation of the Independent Regulatory Monitoring Authority is alone to check the maladies.

Prof G Palanithurai, Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies (Retd) and Dr Bed Prakash Syam Roy, former special secretary, Development and Planning Department also spoke on the occasion.