New Delhi: In a ruling that will open the financial activities of political parties to public scrutiny, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has said citizens can seek their Income Tax returns to get details on their fundings.
The landmark decision, bringing political parties' within the ambit of the RTI Act, came on an appeal of an NGO -- Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) -- seeking disclosure of Income Tax returns and assessment orders pertaining to such organisations.
"The laws of the land do not make it mandatory for political parties to disclose sources of their funding and even less so the manner of expending those funds. In the absence of such laws, the only way a citizen can gain access to the details of funding of political parties is through IT returns filed annually with IT authorities," Information Commissioner A N Tiwari said.
The CIC said since political parties influence the exercise of political power, transparency in their organisation and functions, and more particularly, their means of funding is a democratic imperative and therefore is in public interest.
"There is unmistakable public interest in knowing these funding details which would enable the citizen to make an informed choice about the political parties to vote for," the CIC said, in its 24-page order, allowing ADR's appeal.
The IT authorities, in response to the plea, claimed that the information, containing details on the commercial activities of the political parties, were exempt under the RTI Act.
They further said that the IT returns were "confidential" in nature as they were submitted by the assessees in fiduciary capacity.
