Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 3: In an effort to increase transparency in the disclosures made by political entities, the Election Commission on Monday launched an online site to enable registered political parties to submit their financial records, including donation reports and poll spending accounts.
The action is a part of the poll panel’s “3C strategy,” which entails clean-up, crackdown, and compliance, and which it has been pursuing for the past year under Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. This strategy aims to increase transparency and accountability in political funding and expenditure, according to sources.
Political parties that do not plan to submit their financial reports online must provide a justification for doing so. They may nevertheless submit their financial reports in hard copy format along with CDs or pen drives in the required formats.
“The Commission will, in turn, publish all such reports online, along with a letter of justification sent by the party for not filing financial statements online,” the EC said in a statement.
The Commission explained the move in a letter to political parties, stating that it was made with the dual goals of ensuring timely reporting in a consistent format and resolving challenges with filing physical reports. Political parties can submit their Contribution Report, Audited Annual Account and Election Expenditure Statement online with the use of the portal. The Representation of People’s Act of 1951 and transparency guidelines issued by the Commission require political parties to submit these financial statements to the Election Commission/Chief Electoral Officers of States/Union Territories periodically over the past many years, the poll panel said.
“The online availability of data is expected to enhance the level of compliance and transparency. In the letter, the EC pointed to the pivotal position of political parties, and stressed that it is incumbent on them to adhere to the principles of democratic functioning and transparency in electoral processes, particularly in financial disclosures,” the statement said.
