EC Should Focus on Transparency Than Expenditure of Parties: BJP

The BJP said it might well be left to candidates and parties to report their sources of funding and expenditure.

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(Photo altered by The Quint)

The BJP on Monday, 27 August, indicated its opposition to capping election expenses of political parties and suggested that the Election Commission should instead moot for better transparency.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in an all-party meeting with the Election Commission, also said that it is "optimistic" about introducing the woman quota bill in Parliament.

The political campaigns led by political parties are agenda-based and guided by vision documents. If this is limited in any sense, it would certainly encourage politics based on caste and individual influence-based politics. Therefore, the ECI may moot for better transparency than limit the expenses.

Bhupender Yadav, General Secretary, BJP

The BJP was represented by its general secretary Bhupender Yadav.

The Congress has supported a cap on poll expenses of political parties.

The BJP, according to a statement released later, also said that a political party's campaign encourages and influences voters to participate in elections.

With all contributions greater than Rs 20,000 being reported now, it might well be left to candidates and parties to report their sources of funding and expenditure, the BJP said.

Political parties mobilise funding on the basis of their voting support base and their membership, it said, adding that corporate, high net worth individuals and crowd funding is a consequence of their voter base.

"Hence, there is no reason to introduce any cap on such collection or expenditure," it said.

The BJP, however, said the extent of ceiling on election expenditure of a political party should be discussed widely, keeping in view the several factors depending on the basis of number of candidates put by a party, social-political dynamics, geographical area of the state or constituencies, density, numbers of rallies proposed by the party among other factors.

"In fact, some of unrealistic appropriation of expenses to the candidate account needs to be revisited," it said.

‘Committed To Women Empowerment’

To a topic about the measures political parties can undertake to encourage representation of women, the BJP said it is committed to women empowerment in all walks of life and is "pioneer" in encouraging women participation at its organisational level.

Most of the BJP-ruled states have reserved seats for women candidates in panchayat election. The BJP is concerned and is optimistic about introducing Women Reservation Bill in Parliament to address this cause but the constant animosity on behalf of the opposition parties is creating hindrances in accomplishing the same.

Bhupender Yadav

The BJP also told the Election Commission that voter slips should not be treated as an identity proof as it has been evident that at times influential voters have even engaged in purchasing it.

It called for taking steps so that voter slip is also accompanied with one standard ID proof, and pitched for linking voter registration with Aadhaar to rule out duplication of voters.