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BJP, Congress among parties yet to submit details to EC on electoral bonds

ECI

New Delhi | The BJP, the Congress and the DMK are among the parties which are yet to submit details of donations received till date through electoral bonds to the Election Commission, sources said on Tuesday.

May 30 was the deadline to submit the details as per a Supreme Court directive.

Last month, the EC had written to all recognised political parties to comply with the Supreme Court directives.

Sources aware of the development said the BJP, Congress and DMK “at least” have not yet complied with the direction.

Lifting the veil of anonymity from the government’s political funding scheme, the Supreme Court had on April 12 directed parties to furnish by May 30 all details of funds received through electoral bonds to the Election Commission in a sealed cover.

Explaining its stand, the EC said it was “exclusively confined to one of transparency in political funding and not on merits of the scheme”.

As per the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or an entity incorporated or established in India

A person being an individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.

Only parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and which secured not less than 1 per cent of votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State, will be eligible to receive electoral bonds.

As per the notification, electoral bonds will be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with an authorised bank.

The State Bank of India (SBI) in the 6th phase of sale had been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through its 29 authorised branches from November 1-10, 2018.

The Centre and the EC had taken contrary stands in the court over political funding with the government wanting to maintain anonymity of donors of bonds and the poll panel batting for revealing names of donors for transparency.

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Change of guard at CPI next month, Sudhakar Reddy to step down

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Hyderabad | The CPI would see a change of guard next month with its General Secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy deciding to step down on health grounds after holding the post for more than seven years, sources in the party said.

Reddy, who assumed charge of the party’s top post on March 31, 2012, and was serving a third term scheduled to end in 2021, is firm on announcing his “retirement” at the national council meeting to be held in Delhi on July 20, they said.

The 77-year-old veteran Communist leader “can not travel much, has lung problems, allergy to air-conditioning and discomfort facing extreme heat and cold,” they said.

“He (Reddy) is firm on retiring,” a senior CPI leader told PTI.

Party national secretary D Raja, All India Trade Union Congress general secretary Amarjeet Kaur and Kerala secretary Kanam Rajendran are seen to be front-runners to succeed Reddy, a former Lok Sabha member from Telangana.

Sources said the party’s new boss would be picked by consensus.

Raja is the senior-most in the central secretariat, a known leader but has never been a state secretary and also not contested the Lok Sabha elections.

“They (Kerala unit) are not interested, that’s the problem, we wanted them to take over,” sources said when asked about possibilities of leaders from the southern state being in the reckoning.

Some party functionaries are also pursuing with Rajendran to take over, sources said.

The CPI is the second biggest constituent in the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front government in Kerala.

“She (Kaur) is in trade union. If there is consensus, she can become the party general secretary”, sources said.

Whoever takes over would have a tough challenge to revive the fortunes of the party, which put up a dismal show in the recent Lok Sabha elections, winning only two seats.

Meanwhile, Reddy had a discussion with his CPI-M counterpart Sitaram Yechury on the issue of reunification of the Communist parties.

“Reddy discussed with Yechury, told him he should raise it in their central committee, he (Yechury) forwarded our (CPI’s) letter to their politburo,” a CPI leader said.

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