The Election Commission has urged the government to amend laws to ban anonymous contributions of Rs. 2000 and above made to political parties.
As per the proposed amendment by the EC, “anonymous contributions above or equal to the amount of Rs. two thousand should be prohibited.”
Only yesterday, the government had said that political parties depositing old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in their accounts would be exempt from income tax provided the donations taken are below Rs. 20,000 per individual and properly documented.
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia had said that the government was not tinkering with the tax exemption available to political parties and they were free to deposit old 500 and 1000 rupee notes in their bank accounts.
But these deposits would, however, be subject to the condition that individual donations taken in cash do not exceed Rs. 20,000 and were properly documented with full identity of the donor.
On the other hand, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said yesterday that political parties could not accept donations in old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes since these bills were junked last month and had clarified that there was no new exemption granted.
