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The act of demonetisation has become a sorcery. Of late, the government said that political parties depositing the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in their accounts will not face income tax investigation.  

Why? 

"If it is a deposit in the account of a political party, they are exempt. But if it is deposited in individual's account then that information will come into our radar. If the individual is putting money in his own account, then we will get information," revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia told reporters.  

The idea of demonetisation was to fight corruption, reduce black wealth, eradicate corruption, subdue terrorism and what not.

Now, by allowing political parties to deposit money without any intervention is the exact opposite of what was promised to us in the first place. 

Owing to the same, the former President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union, Kanhaiya Kumar, filed a petition on change.org, asking SC to revoke exemption of political parties from IT scrutiny of deposits in old notes.

"Bringing to your kind attention the exemption granted to political parties from IT scrutiny of old notes." the subject of the petition reads.

Respected Sir,

The present government has taken a decision to demonetize old currency notes of Rs. 500 and 1000 with a stated aim to fight the scourge of black money, corruption and terrorism.

Given the extraordinary nature of this measure which has affected every citizen and business's financial autonomy and brought their records under scrutiny; the exemption granted to political parties from any scrutiny from income tax authorities whatsoever in this regard, seems patently unfair to the citizenry. 

Political Parties receive large amounts of funding from various sources. According to a report by transparency watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms, 75% of the funding of six major political parties is from unknown sources. 

Therefore, exempting Political Parties from any scrutiny defeats the very purpose of this massive exercise of demonetization due to which common citizens have suffered immensely. On the contrary, it gives incentives for black money holders to use political parties as fronts for laundering black money; thereby, compromising the very functioning of our democracy and failing to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the demonetization.

This black money is endangering the free and fair democracy, which the Supreme Court has recognised as the basic structure of the constitution.

“An estimate by the Centre for Media Studies in Delhi puts the total cost of this season’s campaigns for seats in India’s parliament and state assemblies at $4.9 billion. That would make it the second-most expensive in world history, trailing just behind America’s of 2012, which cost $6 billion. According to some estimates, India’s election will cost even more; total expenditures could exceed 0.35% of national GDP. The money raised by the electoral trusts is only 2.2% of the total reported by the parties; a drop in the bucket—but a limpid drop, with its donors and recipients, clearly labelled.” 

So, we on behalf of millions of citizens appeal to the good sense of our judiciary to proceed against this leniency provision in the Income Tax Act. Yours Sincerely, Kanhaiya Kumar

Please sign the petition here.