Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar wrote a letter to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju to cap the cash donations to political parties. The CEC has proposed to bring down anonymous political donations from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000 to cleanse election funding through black money. The poll panel has written a letter to the Union Law Ministry recommending various amendments in the Representation of the People Act, according to sources.
CEC has proposed lowering the threshold limit for cash donations made to political parties from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000. In case the proposal gets approved, all donations above Rs 2,000 will be part of the contribution report which is submitted to the Commission. There are a few political parties which have shown contributions above Rs 20,000 as nil, while their audited accounts statement showed receipt of huge amounts – all less than the limit of Rs 20,000.
The Election Commission has also proposed to limit cash donations at 20 per cent or at a maximum of Rs 20 crore to cleanse election funding of black money, said the sources, adding that the proposed amendments will also lead to maintaining a separate account for receipt and payments related to elections by the candidate and the same has to be transparently disclosed to authorities as election expenditure