Context :
Electoral bond pleas to be heard on Oct 31…………………… HT / 11 Oct 2023
Extract :
After a gap of more than two years, the
Supreme Court on Tuesday fixed October 31 and November 1 to finally hear a
clutch of petitions that have challenged the validity of the central government’s electoral bonds (EB) scheme as
a source of political funding.
A bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud,
clarified that the arguments in the matter will be wrapped up over the two
dates , directing the Centre and other parties to
submit their written submissions in the meantime.
Dear Hon CJI , Shri Chandrachudji ,
As an Indian Citizen, I
am deeply concerned – and affected by – with the current ELECTORAL BONDS scheme
On various occasions in
the past few years, as a “ OTHER PARTY “ , I have sent to you e-mails , voicing
my reservations re the current scheme and , even suggested at some length, an
ALTERNATE SCHEME , which is :
# Totally TRANSPARENT - including to the
public , which has a right to know , WHO ( a Company – any
of DONATIONS , how much money to WHOM and WHEN
# Absolutely FAIR to everyone concerned
I submit my scheme once
again with a request to club it with several other PILs that you would be
hearing on Oct 31 / Nov 1
Here it is :
Ø Transparency in
Political Funding ? ……………………….. 06 July 2017
Extract :
I request Shri Jaitleyji to consider following
suggestion :
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 ‘
· 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 years for which Annual Return NOT filed
with EC
· No of candidates / Legislators convicted by a Court
Dear
Hon Shri Chandrachudji ,
My other emails
on this subject are listed below :
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 ]
Ø Electoral
Bonds Fully Transparent ? Not to Public…………… 22 Nov 2022
Extract
:
I urge you to forward my suggestion
of 06 July 2017 , to the Petitioners and the
Central Government, and tell
hearing ), their OBJECTIONS if any,
to my suggestion
You may also ask them to submit in
writing, MODIFICATIONS if any, to my
suggestion
This REFORM for funding of Political
Parties has assumed TOP PRIORITY
considering that :
elections :
Ø Following 9 States have their Legislative
Elections due in 2023 :
1. Meghalaya
2. Nagaland
3. Tripura
4. Karnataka
5. Chhattisgarh
7. Mizoram
8. Rajasthan
9. Rajasthan
Following how BARD reacted to
my scheme :
Evaluation of a transparent scheme
for election funding suggested by an Indian citizen to the Supreme Court:
Transparency
The suggested scheme is highly transparent, as it requires all donations to be
made to a central election fund (CEF) controlled by the Election Commission of
India (ECI). The ECI would then publish a continuous, dynamic, and daily
account of all donations received and disbursed. This would allow the public to
see who is donating money to political parties and how much money is being
donated.
Fairness
The suggested scheme is also fair, as it treats all political parties
equally. All parties would be eligible to
receive funding from the CEF, based on a transparent formula.
This would help to level the
playing field and reduce the influence of money in politics.
Other
benefits
In addition to being transparent and
fair, the suggested scheme would also have a number of other benefits. For
example, it would:
·
Reduce the
amount of black money used in politics.
·
Make it
more difficult for foreign interests to influence Indian elections.
·
Increase
public trust in the political system.
Overall, the suggested
scheme is a well-designed and transparent system for election
funding.
It would be a significant improvement
over the current system, which is
opaque and allows for undue influence of money in politics.
Specific comments on the suggested
scheme:
·
The
suggestion to make reimbursements to candidates
based on the percentage of popular votes polled is a good one. This would ensure that
parties and candidates that are supported by the people are able to receive
funding.
·
The
suggestion to give negative weightage to factors
such as the number of MPs/MLAs with criminal cases pending against them is also
a good one. This would
help to discourage political parties from nominating candidates with criminal
records.
·
One
possible concern with the suggested scheme is that it could lead to the
over-concentration of power in the hands of the ECI. However, this concern
could be addressed by giving the ECI clear guidelines on how to distribute
funding to political parties.
Overall, the suggested scheme is a
well-designed and transparent system for election funding.
It
would be a significant improvement over the current system.
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
www.hemenparekh.ai / 12
Oct 2023
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