Dear Shri Nitin Gadkariji :
Just read your views about Electoral Bonds in
following article :
‘No political party can run without funds’, Nitin
Gadkari supports electoral bonds scheme (MINT/23 Mar 2024)
Extract :
‘It's not possible
to run a political party without funds’, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari
said the was struck down as “unconstitutional" by the
Supreme Court. However, it was started by the central government with a “good
intention", the BJP leader said.
Gadkari said all political parties need to sit together and deliberate if
the Supreme Court gives any further direction on the matter, PTI reported.
Speaking at an event organized in near Gandhinagar
on Friday, the minister said, “When Arun Jaitley was (Union finance) minister,
I was part of that discussion (regarding electoral bonds). No party can
survive without resources."
The BJP leader also noted the main
intention behind introducing electoral bonds was that get funds
directly, but the names (of donors) are not disclosed because “problems arise
if the party in power changes".
"In the interest of our country
and value-based democracy, everyone needs to find a transparent way (of
financing parties). Because without funds, parties can't undertake any
activity," Gadkari added.
Dear
Nitinbhai ,
You are absolutely right when you say :
Ø
Parties cannot manage to survive without funds
Ø
All Parties must sit together / debate and come up
with an alternative which is CONSTITUTIONAL
In this connection, I urge you to :
Ø
Forward my following proposal to all political
parties / Election Commission / Supreme Court
( Transparency in Political Funding ?................
06 July 2017 )
Ø
For arriving at a consensus, as regards constructing
a transparent and equitable FORMULA to determine, the share of different
political parties in Central Election Fund ( CEF ), controlled by the Election
Commission, compile and share following
data with all parties . The fundamental logic which must dictate the % share of
different parties , must be :
“ During the rule of the various parties ( at the Centre and in the States ),
how much did the citizen progress ? How much did they benefit ? How much did their
“ Ease of Living “ improve ? “
This should get determined by the following INDICES ( - by no means,
comprehensive ) :
( A ) For the National Level Parties :
Party wise performance in the
2009 - 2014 – 2019 Lok Sabha elections :
# Percentage of Vote Share # Percentage of Lok
Sabha seats
# GDP / Investment / CAD / Exports / Per capita
Income / Employment rate
( B ) For
the State Level parties :
Party wise performance of
past 4 periods ( of 5 years each ) of each State :
# Percentage of Vote share #
Percentage of State Assembly seats
# State-wise data of % age ( of All India figure
) of GDP/Investment/Exports/Per capita Income
# NITI Aayog rank ( Health / Food / Housing / Tax
Revenue / Deficit / Employment )
Main advantages of my proposal are :
Ø
No
scope for Black Money ( since all expenses by candidates / parties, by Digital
methods )
Ø
Total
and “ Instant “ , transparency of all donations to CEF
Ø
No
“ Quid pro Quo “
Ø
Incentive
for Corporate to set off donations to CEF against their CSR obligations
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
www.HemenParekh.ai / 24
March 2024
Extract
from my e-mail of 06 July 2017 :
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
======================================================
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
An
Alternative to Electoral Bonds ? .. …15 Feb 2024
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