PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

 

Introduction (0:08)

Hello, everyone! My name is Shivani Kapoor and I am a Program Officer at ADR. Welcome to the third episode of our podcast series. This episode will focus on “Why Political parties should be brought under the ambit of RTI Act.” In this section, we will be discussing why it is crucial to declare political parties as public authorities, related legal and constitutional provisions and how bringing parties under the RTI Act can cure many problems prevalent in our electoral and political process.

Background and Over-view: (0:45)

Political parties have a ‘binding nexus with the country and its citizens’. As a central institution of democracy, they embody the will of the people and carry their expectations that democracy will be truly responsive to their needs. Supreme Court had once said, “In a government of responsibility like ours, where all the agents of the public must be responsible for their conduct, there can be but few secrets. The people of this country have a right to know every public act, everything that is done in a public way by their public functionaries.”

ADR has been working relentlessly towards this cause since 2010 when we started filing RTI applications with the national political parties asking for information related to details of maximum contributions received between FY 2004-5 to 2009-10. Most of the parties either did not reply or denied being a public authority. Ultimately, in 2011, we filed a complaint with the Central Information Commission (CIC). On June 3, 2013, the CIC declared six national political parties, namely the INC, BJP, CPI(M), CPI, NCP and BSP to be “Public Authorities” under Section 2(h)(ii) of the RTI Act. Surprisingly, none of the parties complied with the order of the full bench of CIC which is a quasi-judicial constitutional body. Due to non-compliance of the CIC order, four applications were filed with the CIC. Ultimately on 16th March 2015, the CIC held that even though June 3^rd, 2013 order is final and legally binding, however, the Commission does not have ample powers to deal with the cases of contempt and non-compliance. Therefore in 2015, ADR was left with no choice but to file a PIL in the Supreme Court requesting the court to bring the political parties under the RTI Act. Based on our petition, notices were issued to the government and political parties. The matter is still pending in the Supreme Court.  

 

Detailed Rationale: Why political parties should come under the ambit of RTI Act: (03:13)

First and foremost, political parties are Substantially Financed by the Central Government:

Section 2(h) (ii) of the RTI Act declares any authority or body or institution to be a public authority if they are substantially financed by the government, directly or indirectly and political parties do get an indirectly financed by the government. Now let’s see how;

• Allotment of land to them in prime areas of Delhi either, free of cost, or at concessional rates including Allotment of land in State Capitals.
• Accommodations/Bungalows at Concessional Rentals: Directorate of Estate has allotted Bungalows to Political Parties in Delhi at highly concessional rates; this is also a form of indirect financing of the parties.
• Total Tax Exemption: Under section 13 A of the Income Tax Act, political Parties get 100% tax exemption from payment of income tax against the incomes of the parties.
• Free Airtime on Doordarshan & All India Radio: During Lok Sabha Elections and State Assembly Elections, political parties are allotted airtime slots on Doordarshan and All India Radio, absolutely free of any charge.

Political parties wield tremendous power under the 10^th Schedule of the Constitution: (04:38)

Our entire political system revolves around the political parties. Under 10^th schedule of the Constitution political parties enjoy a stronghold over their elected MP’s and MLAs.  Now let us see how;

• Political parties can disqualify an elected member – whether MP or MLA - if he/she steps out of the party line. This makes it compulsory for an MP or an MLA to abide by the directions of the political parties, failing which the member stands to be disqualified.
• Bind legislators in their speeches and voting inside the house;
• Decide what laws are made;
• Decide whether Government remains in power or which Government should come to power;
• Decide public policies that affect the lives of millions of people.

 

Bringing parties under RTI is in larger Public Interest: (05:41)

CIC while declaring political parties as public authorities had said that the criticality of the role being played by these Political Parties in our democratic set up and the nature of duties performed by them also point towards their public character. Now let’s see how;

• Preamble of RTI Act: The preamble of RTI Act aims to create an ‘informed citizenry and to contain corruption and to hold government and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed. Needless to say, political parties are important political institutions and continuously perform public functions which define parameters of governance and socio-economic development in the country.’
• The Political Parties are the life and blood of our polity:  Elections are contested on party basis. Political parties affect the lives of citizens, directly or indirectly, in every conceivable way and are continuously engaged in performing public duty.
• Political Parties cannot function in an undemocratic way: A political party which does not respect democratic principles in its internal working cannot be expected to respect those principles in the governance of the country. It cannot be dictatorship internally and democratic in its functioning outside.

 

Legal rights and liabilities of a political party: (07:05)

Political parties do have legal rights and liabilities and this indicates that they must become transparent and accountable in order to give effect to such rights and liabilities.  

• The political parties have been given statutory status under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
• Under Section 29A (5) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, the Political Parties are required to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India.
• Political parties have to file their election expense and contributions statements of the value of Rs. 20,000/- and above with the ECI under section 29C of the R.P. Act.
• Political parties are given 100% tax exemption and in case of default regarding their financial reports such an exemption stands cancelled.
• The Political parties give tickets to the candidates and the people vote on party symbols. ECI awards symbols to political parties under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, only after registration.
• Election Commission is vested with the superintendence, direction and control of elections under Article 324 of the Constitution. ECI is also vested with the authority to suspend or withdraw recognition of a political party in certain contingencies.

 

Why it is imperative that parties come under RTI Act: (08:35)

• Transparency and accountability constitute the core of our democratic constitutional system. Therefore, same concept must also apply to and bind the political parties which are integral to parliamentary democracy. It is the political parties that form the government, man the Parliament and run the governance of the country. Therefore, it becomes even more crucial to introduce reforms like inner party democracy, criteria for ticket distribution, information about office bearers, financial transparency and accountability within their working. In fact, the Law Commission of India way back in 1999 in its 170th Report on ‘Reform of the Electoral Laws’ had recommended for transparency in the functioning of political parties specially focusing on financial transparency and accountability in their functioning. All this can be achieved only and only if parties are declared public authority.
• In our country, we have laws specifically for temples, schools, hospitals, institutions, clubs, but we don’t have a single law dealing with political parties. There is no way to penalize them in case of any default, there is zero accountability among office bearers and hence no fear. Let’s not forget, eventually it is a political party which forms rules, decides policies through its elected representatives. They are the ultimate repository and guardian of our whole constitutional, democratic, social-economic set up. And there is no one to question them, there is no onus upon their functioning.
• It’s no secret that political parties have become a breeding ground for money. There is a strong nexus between money and muscle where only money and mafia will get the tickets to contest elections. There are parties which do not even contest elections and are formed solely for the purpose of money-making. In fact, in 2017, ECI had de-listed 255 political parties that had not contested elections at all. There is no CAG audit of political parties account statements. And if that’s not all, there is another predicament i.e conflict of interest or quid pro quo between parties and corporate giants that fund these political parties in return for a policy in their favour. We have seen many such occurrences in the past and this will continue to flourish in the near future in absence of any check and balance within the political class.

In nutshell: (11:23)

• It will be a fallacy to hold that transparency is good for all State organs, but not so good for the political parties, which control the most important of those organs. Like I had said earlier, political reforms demand political parties to be absolutely transparent and accountable, that there is a complete disclosure of donations, sources of funds, income and expenditure, criteria for ticket distribution, inner party elections, information about office bearers.
• With emergence of other disturbing trends in our electoral and political process like electoral bonds, unlimited and anonymous corporate donations, amendments to FCRA, unprecedented amendments by governments-in-power to mould law in their favour, increasing criminality in politics, it becomes the need of the hour that parties are brought under the ambit of RTI Act.
• It is high time that we do some pondering and realize that instead of spending a tax payers hard earned money to reform the society and country at large, the governments, past-present-future; the institutions and authorities, who have taken an oath to uphold the ‘Rule of Law’ are rather busy in spending this hard earned money to further the greed of our leaders and parties, one way or the other. We have now set up special courts, fast-track courts to deal with cases pending against MPs/MLAs. If that’s not all, money is being spent on wider publication of such cases. Whereas the ONLY answer is- Bring political parties under RTI, make them answerable for each and every public act so that there is fear amongst them, so that they become conscious of their actions and perform well, so that they know that citizens know.

That’s all for today’s episode. I hope you all found this useful and interesting. If you like our work, make sure you subscribe to the podcast on our website: adrindia.org and don’t forget to write to us at [email protected] with your feedback. We will be back in two weeks with another amazing episode. Please stay tuned and thank you for listening.