Political Parties Must Come Under RTI Act: Election Commission
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has stated that the political parties must be covered under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
In a statement released Monday, ECI said it refutes media reports which interpreted that ECI contradicts Central Information Commission’s (CIC) directive on political parties covered under the purview of RTI Act.
“It is clarified that ECI goes by the CIC order of 3rd June, 2013 that national parties would be public authorities for the purposes of RTI Act and in pursuance of this all the information about the contributions received by them as well as their annual audited accounts, as and when submitted to the Commission, are put in public domain,” ECI said in its statement.
As regards consultation with leaders of different political parties before presenting electoral bonds is concerned, this issue has been transferred to Ministry of Finance as it might concern them and not the Election Commission of India, the statement added.
