Business fraternity proposes donation pool for election

Business fraternity has proposed a donation pool to make funding of political parties for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election – that is planned for November 19 – campaign transparent.

“We propose to create a basket fund from the business community, who are willing to donate, which will distribute the donation to election campaigns of various political parties,” said president of National Business Initiative (NBI) Padma Jyoti, during an interaction with journalists here today.

The district chambers can open bank accounts for basket fund and the NBI will monitor the account from the centre, he added.

“The parties will be donated on the basis of number of seats they won in the last CA election or based on the number of candidates or any other best suitable modality which needs to be decided,” Jyoti said, adding that donations, by definition, is voluntary but political parties are intimidating most of the business community to make financial contributions for their campaigning. “There are 601 seats and more than 120 political parties, which have put huge pressure on the private sector.”

The basket fund or the pool can also be audited and would promote transparency, he added.

The NBI has been asking the Election Commission and political parties to make donations transparent and voluntary. The private sector has also suggested the political parties to accept account payee cheques and give receipts to the contributor.

“The political parties are positive on private sector’s suggestion and have agreed to accept donation through banking channel,” NBI’s general secretary Surendra Bir Malakar said, on the occasion.

However, the political parties should ensure that their contributors are not supporting them by disposing the dirty money,” Malakar added.

The private sector has also demanded an amendment in the Income Tax Act that will help them include donations in the company’s accounts.