Funding of Political Parties

A big hue and cry has been raised on the suspected funding of Aam Aadmi Party prior to the Delhi elections! Old co passengers of the party who formed the AVAM have alleged that the party has received black money as donations and accused them that they were also not above board. This issue was further taken up by one of the TV channels who were also grilling the representative from AAP saying that they had received funds from some "shell" companies. The  issue was further escalated by slapping of notice by IT department on the party asking them to show the source of fund for the donation of Rs 50 lacs received by them.

From the whole issue I understand (or rather fail to understand) how the party can be blamed at all. The whole issue came to light only because they wanted to be transparent (unlike other parties) and put the details of all the donations received on their web site. And the representative from AAP confirms that the amount was received by way of a Banker's cheque (Pay Order) issued by a Bank and was delivered by somebody giving the details of the donor company to whom the receipt had been issued. I wonder whether anybody receiving a donation is expected to verify the balance sheet details of the donor company before accepting the same (as it is alleged that the company's paid up capital was Rs 1 lac only and had incurred a loss during the year ended 31.03.2014). Is it really possible to verify all these facts, in the name of transparency? When the amount is by way of a Banker's cheque issued by a Bank, what is the need for checking the source at all (which should have been ensured by the Banker). It is quite unfair to crucify the party without knowing the full facts and the full procedure behind issuing a Banker's cheque. All that the party can now do is to return the money so received, if it is proved beyond doubt that this transaction was a dubious one. However, one would like to know whether all the other political parties verify the source before they accept the donations by way of cash or kind before making such an unwanted hue and cry over a non issue.

I hope the AAP will take a principled stand and furnish all the facts to the IT department in reply to the notice received and clarify the position to the public immediately. 

The media also should try to understand the issue fully before making the same a topic for panel discussion.

However, the present issue has once again raised the question of funding of the political parties. I fail to understand why the parties raise such huge funds and spend the same in the elections, which itself can be a reason for corruption , post election. All the parties on their own should decide to curtail the expenditure during the election. The election commission , on its part, should also reduce the present level of permitted expenditure for each constituency, after consultations with all the parties. It is quite natural that if somebody spends money to get elected to the post, after getting elected his primary objective will be to recover at least the money spent, if not much more from other sources which will lead to corruption. (Pure economic sense!) Seems like an Utopian idea? But how else we can cleanse the system?