State funding 8212; EC begs to differ

NEW DELHI, JUNE 30: The Union Law Ministry has written to heads of all political parties asking for approval for introducing state fundin...

NEW DELHI, JUNE 30: The Union Law Ministry has written to heads of all political parties asking for approval for introducing state funding for the coming Lok Sabha elections. In a June 24 letter, sent to all political parties, Law Minister Ram Jethmalani has stated that should he find the necessary consensus, he would seek the Cabinet8217;s approval and prepare the draft ordinance for promulgation. The Law Minister8217;s letter says: 8220;I think this proposal ought to be enacted into law and made applicable to the ensuing Parliamentary election. This can be achieved if we are able to report to the Hon8217;ble President of India that all or nearly all political parties are keen that it should be done8230;8221;

Whether that will happen is hard to say. In fact, Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill says that the proposal when elections have been announced is 8220;questionable8221; and 8220;doubtful.8221; He told The Indian Express: 8220;How can state funding be introduced at this stage? There is no Parliament in session and it is only the13th Lok Sabha which can approve such an important change in our electoral laws.8221;

He added that there were, in fact, other pending electoral reforms and last year, he had, personally written to all parties soliciting their views. He had not got a reply from a single party and therefore felt the Law Minister was now being over-optimistic in expecting to promulgate an ordinance before the election schedule was announced. 8220;This subject needs calm consideration. It should not be rushed through in this manner.8221;

But Jethmalani8217;s efforts at evolving a consensus on the long-pending issue has obviously led to a flurry of activity in Government. V A Pai Panandiker, President of the Centre for Policy Research, says a senior Government functionary has asked him for a copy of the proposal on state funding which he had prepared for the Union Cabinet way back in 1977. 8220;The root cause for corruption in our country is election funding. The cancer has spread throughout the country and evolving a pattern for funding isthe need of the hour.8221; he feels. Jethmalani8217;s proposal states that the aim was to reduce money power in elections through state funding which can be achieved by amending the Representation of the People8217;s Act. Panandiker adds that the concept of state funding, he had been talking about for years was for the Government to disburse funds to every political party on the basis of a carefully calculated cost of reaching each voter and the percentage of votes garnered by a party.

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More