In India, the Representation of the People Act, and the constitutionally autonomous Election Commission (EC), oversee the functioning of parties. However, a complex challenge before every modern democracy has been to find appropriate mechanisms to regulate the flow of funds to parties. Apart from election campaigns, parties also need funds for organisational purposes, including paying salaries to fulltime party workers. On March 18, an amendment to the Finance Bill of 2018 was approved by the Lok Sabha to amend the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. Incidentally, the Delhi High Court had held “both Congress and BJP guilty of [violating] Foreign Contribution [Regulation] Act (FRCA) provisions of that time” in 2014.

Source: Economic Times April 14, 2018 02:26 UTC