New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) on Monday launched a new web portal to allow registered political parties file their financial statements, including contribution reports, audited annual account and poll expenditure statement. The online availability of data is expected to boost compliance and transparency, the EC said in a letter tol political parties.
The online portal has a facility of sending reminders in the form of messages on registered mobile numbers and emails of authorised representatives of a political party so that the dates of compliances are not missed.
“A comprehensive guiding manual with graphical representations, and FAQs have also been sent to the political parties explaining the online module and the process of filing reports online. To give further guidance on the online filing, the EC would also organise a hands-on training programme for the designated person(s) from various political parties,” it said in a statement.
Political parties not wishing to file the financial report online will have to convey the reasons to the EC in writing and may continue to file its reports in hard copy.
“The Commission will, in turn, publish all such reports online, along with a letter of justification sent by the party for not filing financial statements online,” it added.
In its letter, the EC said that the facility has been created with twin objectives: to facilitate political parties in overcoming the difficulties in physical filing of reports, and to ensure timely filing of financial statements in the prescribed/standardised formats.
These financial statements are required to be submitted by political parties to the Election Commission/Chief Electoral Officers of States/Union Territories, as per the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 & transparency guidelines issued by the Commission, from time to time, over the last many years.
“The online availability of the data is expected to enhance the level of compliance and transparency. In the letter, the ECI pointed to the pivotal position of political parties, and stressed that it is incumbent on them to adhere to the principles of democratic functioning and transparency in electoral processes, particularly in financial disclosures,” the EC said.
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