History

The Representation of the People Act (RPA) of 1951 provided the first set of rules for the conduct of elections to the Houses of Parliament and State Legislatures. Over the years the RPA has been amended to reflect changing circumstances. Political party funding reform has been enacted via changes to the Company Law, via Money Bills, the Income Tax Law, through Supreme Court orders, etc.

Anti Defection Law

The Anti-Defection Law was passed in 1985 through the 52nd Amendment to the Constitution. The main intent of the law was to combat “the evil of political defections” by elected politicians for the lure of office.

Central Information Commission (CIC)

In 2013 The CIC ruled that political parties can be held to be public authorities and come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act Companies Act.

In same year after the CIC ruling, all the political parties banded together and backed "The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2013" which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 12, 2013, amending the original act (RTI 2005). The Amendment removes political parties from the scoop of the definition of "public authorities". Thus political parties in India no longer fall under the dimensions of RTI. This amendment was met by huge protests from the civil rights societies and the general public.

Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)

In 1994 A writ petition was filed by ADR in the Supreme Court for direction to implement the recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 170th report regarding:

• • Debarring a candidate from contesting elections if charges have been framed against him/her by a Court in respect of certain offences.
• • Debarring a candidate from contesting elections if charges have been framed against him/her by a Court in respect of certain offences.
• • Candidates be required to provide true and correct statement of assets owned by them.

In 2015 a PIL was filed by ADR requesting the constitution of an independent body to administer enforcement of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA)

Election Commission of India (ECI) on expenditure in Election

In the latest, in 2014 election commission has ruled out that in big states the Rs. 70,00,000 for Lok Sabha elections and Rs. 28,00,000 for State Assembly elections is the limit. According to a study by ADR, analysis of the expenditure statements of candidates to the ECI after the poll results were announced indicated that the average election expenditure was 49% of the limit imposed. This seems to indicate that these limits have no practical value. There is no limit on the expenditure a party can incur during its election campaigns.

NOTA was introduces after Supreme Court Rulings

In 2013 NOTA was introduced in India following the 2013 Supreme Court directive in the People's Union for Civil Liberties vs. Union of India judgment. The Court directed the Election Commission to introduce a “None of the Above [NOTA] ” option into the Electronic Voting Machines. This allows voters the option of expressing their dissent against all the contestants. For instance, In Kerala, a group of women activists urged people not to elect a candidate if no woman was present in the fray. In Tamil Nadu, a youth group campaigned for NOTA as a protest vote against corruption.

Finance Bills

Amendments in the Finance Bills [2017]

The Finance Bill [2017] amends to

(i) Remove the cap limit on the companies for contributions that they could make to any political parties.

(ii) And also removing the requirement of a company to disclose the name of the political parties to which it was contributing.

The bill further adds that "contributions will have to be made only through a cheque, bank draft, electronic means, or any other scheme notified by the government to make contributions to political parties."

(iii) It looks introduces "Electoral Bonds" as a means to make anonymous contributions to political parties. These bonds will be issued by the State Bank of India.

Electoral Bonds

Introduced with the Finance Bill (2017), Electoral Bonds allow donors to pay political parties with banks as an intermediary. These bonds can only be issued by the State Bank of India.

Range of a bond - Rs 1000 to Rs 1 crore.

Availability - 10 days each in the months of January, April, July, and October, with an additional period of 30 days specified by the central government in the year of general elections.