I like to call the Electoral Bonds , a biography of “ Voter Bondage “
Reason ?
Like W. Somerset Maugham’s 1915 novel , “ Of Human Bondage “ , electoral bonds too are “ pure invention “
Context :
Of Human Bondage , Wikipedia writes :
“ It is generally agreed to be his masterpiece and to be strongly
autobiographical in nature, although Maugham
stated,
"This is a novel, not an
autobiography, though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention."[1]
=======================================
Supreme Court is hearing petitions filed by Association for Demographic
Reforms ( ADR ) and Communist Party of
India ( CPI-M )
These petitioners are saying :
# These bonds pose a serious
repercussions on the transparency of electoral process
# These could allow foreign
funding of political parties
The government said :
# The Scheme notified last year
would remain anonymous to maintain the privacy of its buyers
# Donor identity can be
disclosed to the competent court or upon registration of a criminal case by any
law
When SC asked the Election
Commission to take an unequivocal stand on this matter, EC said :
# We had conveyed to the
government, our apprehension over the electoral bonds , way back in 2017
# We had recommended doing away
with the anonymity clause for donations of less than Rs 20,000
# We had raised our reservations
as part of 22 step “ Reform Package “ and another 47 step proposal
we had sent to the government
====================================================================
I have no idea whether that proposal contained an alternate /
transparent method of funding of elections
May be it did , if the Election Commissioners found time to read my
following email :
=====================================================
Thursday, 6 July 2017
Transparency in Political Funding ?
Economic
Times ( 06 July ) carries a report titled :
“ Political Funding Next on Radar : FM “
As
per this report , Shri Jaitley said
:
================================
“ We are looking at some major
steps to be announced by which we want to cleanse the entire political funding in India
For the last 70 years, the world’s largest democracy has
survived on funding which really brings no credit to the democracy and I think
it has been the prime minister’s insistence that this has to be one of the
subjects that the government has to take up now as a top priority “
We are aware of some modest reforms ( electoral bonds / cap on cash payments ) that Shri Jaitley introduced in the last
budget
But no one believes that these reforms go far enough ( -
including CEC ! )
Millions of Indians ( but no political party ) want ALL donations , irrespective of the
amount involved , to be by official / transparent channels ( cheque / Online
Payment etc ) , and want mandatory filing of
INCOME / EXPENSE statements with CEC !
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 ‘
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 aTRANSPARENT , 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
DEAR SHRI JAITLEYJI :
Above mentioned suggestion , is by no means , comprehensive
You may want to consider a HYBRID
MODEL which is a combination of the alternatives listed above
It is important that all the figures / data used in the FORMULA , are supplied only by the Election Commission and theSpeakers of various legislatures – and
made public
Since there is no way political parties will reach a consensus on my suggestion , best way
would be to publish an onlineSURVEY
QUESTIONNAIRE and ask citizens to vote / rate , against each item
of suggestion and then publish theFINDINGS (
on ALL government web sites ) , on a continuous basis
It would be too much to expect the Political Parties to accept
this reform without building up pressure from 800 + million voters .
You may even consider a REFERENDUM !
===============================================================
Dear CJI , Hon Shri Gogoiji,
Supreme Court may have constitutional limitations ( interfering in governmental affairs ? ) in “
ordering “ the government to implement my suggestion ,but you would be within
your rights – and your moral responsibility to the citizens of India – to , at
least “ direct “ the government to tell you ( an affidavit ? ) , what, if any ,
are its objections to my suggestion
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31 March 2019
Rsvp : hcp@RecruitGuru.com
