Indian National Congress (INC) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)have violated the Representation of People’s Act (RPA) 1951 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act
A bench of Delhi High Court comprising of justices Sanjay Kishen
Kaul and Indermeet Kaur today, on 10th of January 2013, heard the
arguments
of a PIL that has alleged that the two political parties namely
Indian National Congress (INC) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)have
violated the
Representation of People’s Act (RPA) 1951 and Foreign Contribution
(Regulation) Act (FCRA) by taking donations from government companies
and foreign sources, which is prohibited under both the legislations.
Petitioners of the PIL
a) Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)
b) Dr. EAS Sarma, former secretary to the Government of India
Grounds of the PIL
a) INC and the BJP have violated Section 29B of the Representation
of People’s Act 1951, which categorically prohibits them to take
donations from government companies and from any foreign source
b) The donation of huge sums of money made by the Vedanta Group
(being a foreign company) to major political parties like INC and BJP is
in clear violation of the FCR Act of 1976 and the FCR Act of 2010.
c) The donation of huge sums of money by the public sector
undertakings (who are also State within Article 12 of the Constitution)
to the political parties is in violation of Section 293A of the
Companies Act.
BJP and INC have confessed to the foreign funding
Both BJP and INC have themselves declared, in their annual
contribution reports submitted to the Election Commission of India
(ECI), that they have received funding from the Vedanta Group, which is a
foreign company listed on London Stock Exchange under the name “Vedanta
Resources PLC”.
Court has asked Centre and ECI
After hearing the petitioners, Delhi High Court has asked the
Central Government (Home Ministry) and Election Commission of India
(ECI) to file their responses within 2 weeks. Court has also said that
the two political parties, INC and BJP, will be called upon to respond
only after going through the responses of the Home Ministry and ECI. The
next date of hearing in the matter has been set as 4th February 2013.
Thanks & Regards
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Media and Journalist Helpline
+91 80103 94248
Email: adr@adrindia.org
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Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar
(Founder Member, ADR)
M: +919999620944
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Mr. Anil Bairwal (National Coordinator, ADR)
M: +91 8010394248,
+91 9999310100
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Prof. Trilochan Sastry
(Founder Member, ADR)
M: +919448353285
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