An Alternative to Electoral Bonds ?

 

 

Yesterday , Supreme Court declared the Electoral Bond scheme as

unconstitutional and violating citizen’s Right to Information

Since yesterday afternoon, politicians from opposition parties are voicing their

support for the SC verdict and criticizing the NDA government for launching this

scheme

Full report on this SC verdict can be read at :

Supreme Court declares electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional    … Hindu … 15 Feb 2024

Highlight :

Ø  Amendments to the law, which allowed companies to make unlimited financial contributions to political parties under the cover of absolute anonymity, declared ‘manifestly arbitrary’

Ø  Electoral bond scheme is unconstitutional for violating the voter’s right to know

Ø  EB scheme is invalid for anonymising political funding

Ø  Information on political funding is essential for freedom to vote

Ø  Voters must get all information to identify corruption and quid pro quo

Ø  Electoral Bond scheme fails tests of proportionality by not being the least restrictive means

Ø  EB scheme is not the only method for curbing black money

Ø  The scheme provides selective anonymity for economically resourced contributors

Ø  The Electoral Bond scheme violates principles of free and fair elections and political equality

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My Take  :

 

Whereas it is understandable that political parties ( including those few which received hundreds of crore of money under this scheme ) are critical of the lack of transparency of this scheme , not one of them has come forward with any concrete / specific suggestion on what alternate scheme should replace the current scheme !

Over the past 7 years , I sent a few emails to our Cabinet Ministers / Election Commission / Supreme Court , in this matter

Then last November , Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta :

 “.. if the Centre could come up with another system which does not have flaws of the scheme as it puts premium on opacity “

 We do not want to go back to a cash-only system. We are saying do it in a proportionate, tailor-made system which overcomes the serious deficiencies of this electoral bond system “

The bench highlighted five points that could be considered for an electoral scheme :

#   Need to reduce cash element in the election process

#   Need to encourage authorized banking channels

#   Need to incentivize use of banking channels

#   Need for transparency

#   Need to prevent legitimization of kickbacks and quid pro quo

 

 

I urge NDA government to forward my following proposal to all political parties (

with copy to Supreme Court ) , asking them to submit their responses, suggesting

specific changes / modifications that they would like to be incorporated :

Ø  Transparency in Political Funding ?................ 06 July 2017

Extract :

STRUCTURE

 

No direct donations ( even Rs 5 ) by anyone to any Political Party or to any

Political Leader ( even as birth-day gift ! )

 

Creation of a CENTRAL ELECTION FUND ( CEF ) , controlled / administered by the

Central Election Commission

 

Donations can only be given to CEF – and only by cheque / online etc , quoting

Aadhar number

 

Donations will get tax exemption as CSR

 

CEC will publish , on its web site , a continuous / dynamic / daily ACCOUNT of

amounts received ( with Aadhar No of each donor ) and amounts spent /

disbursed by CEC to Political Parties / Candidates ( with full details of each )

 

 

·   From CEF , Election Commission will distribute FUNDS to political parties for

    fighting elections / other expenses , on predetermined ‘ Occasions ‘

 

 

 

PROCESS

 

·   Funding of Political Parties by CEC ( from CEF ) , can be made as per following two

    alternatives :

 

 

[ A ]    AFTER  THE  ELECTION ( CANDIDATE – based Reimbursements ) :

 

 

#  After each Election ( Central / State / Municipal ) , ALL candidates contesting

    the election ( including independent candidates ) , shall submit to CEC ,

     a STATEMENT of EXPENSES incurred in fighting the election.

 

 

Even if a group of parties have come together to fight the election (

MahaGathBandhan ), each candidate will get linked to ONE party only

 

 

 

#  Statement will be as per format decided by CEC , giving category-wise expense

    details ( all payments listed in the statement , must be through legal / official

    channels , such as Cheque / Electronic Bank Transfer / Mobile Wallets etc )

 

 

 

#  There will be UPPER LIMITS of REIMBURSEMENT for each category of expense

    and an overall limit

 

 

 

#  The statement will also show the “ Sources of Funds “ ( with full details such as

    OWN or borrowed from CLOSE RELATIVEs , with names )

 

 

 

#  Actual amount to be reimbursed to each candidate , will be computed based on

    a number of factors , main factor being the “ percentage of popular votes

    polled “ by that candidate ( no reimbursement for those candidates who get

    less than 5 % of popular vote )

 

 

 

#  Actual re-imbursements made by CEC , shall not be counted as INCOME of that

    candidate , for Income Tax purpose

 

 

 

 

[ B ]   BEFORE  THE  ELECTION ( PARTY – wise ADVANCES ) :

 

 

# Before each election , All recognized Political Parties will get ADVANCES from

   CEF , computed using a TRANSPARENT , mathematical formula , based on

   following factors :

 

 

# FACTORS with POSITIVE WEIGHTAGE :

 

·    In all the elections since independence ( Central + States + Municipal )

    , percentage of popular votes polled by each party in those elections along with

     the percentage of seats won by each party

 

 

·    Number of years for which the party has been recognized by CEC

 

 

·   Cumulative number of “ Days “ ( not months or years ) , each party was in

    power ( Centre + States + Municipality ) since independence

 

 

·         No ( or percentage ) of seats “ won “ in each election

 

 

 

     #   FACTORS with NEGATIVE WEIGHTAGE :

 

 

·         No of MPs / MLAs having criminal cases pending against them

 

 

·         No of times candidates / parties were “ warned “ by CEC ( for any reason )

 

 

·         No of years for which Annual Return NOT filed with EC

 

 

·         No of candidates / Legislators convicted by a Court

 

 

 

  ==================================================

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

www.HemenParekh.ai  /  16 Feb 2024

 

Related Readings :

         Make Me A Party…………………………….. [ 03 Oct 2017 ]

  Electoral Bonds for Transparency ?.. [ 03 Jan 2018 ]

  Don’t Disclose Donations …………………[ 04 Jan 2018 ]

  Of Electoral Bondage ?................... [ 30 Mar 2019 ]

  Please Hear and Read too……………….. [ 19 Mar 2021 ]

  Thank You for “ Reading “/“ Asking “ [ 24 Mar 2021 ]

        But what is info in “sealed cover“?.....[ 05 July 2021 ]

       Electoral Bonds Fully Transparent ?  Not to Public……………  22 Nov 2022

 

 

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PS :

National Election Fund an alternative: Ex-CEC Krishnamoorthy after SC verdict

 

 Extract :

Krishnamoorthy also said that both the electoral bonds scheme and the previous method of funding elections promoted an “obnoxious nexus between corporates and political parties”

Welcoming the Supreme Court’s recent judgement on the electoral bonds scheme, former Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) TS Krishnamoorthy has suggested a “National Election Fund” as an alternative.

He suggested that the only way to “delink” this nexus was a National Election Fund with 100% tax exemption for both corporate and individual donors to facilitate the public funding of elections in which all parties would be allocated certain sums during polls.