Former CEC Quraishi bats for more transparency in political funding

Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi on Friday, 15 March pitched for enhanced transparency in political funding, saying people should know who is giving money to parties.

In a video interview with PTI, he said transparency of political funding is extremely important for free and fair elections.

"Free and fair elections are the basic structure of the Indian Constitution," he underlined.

He said it is important for people to know what kind of money -- dirty money or drug money -- is coming.

He said it was important to know the nexus between the donors and government policies "as there are no free lunches".

People want to know who is funding the government (apparently referring to the ruling party), he said.

He said there may be instances that those donating may end up grabbing licences, contracts, bank loans "on which they default."

"All these things have to be in the public domain," he said.

His remarks come against the backdrop of the Supreme Court on Friday admonishing the State Bank of India for furnishing incomplete information on electoral bonds.

It said the bank was required to provide the number unique to each electoral bond that would disclose the link between the buyer and the recipient political party.