It might be legal, but still disturbing. Between 2004-05 and
2014-15, political parties got contributions worth more than
Rs 6,800 crore from unknown sources. Of the Rs 4,000 crore
that the Congress received during this period, 83% was from
unknown sources. The BJP, which came to power at the Centre
in 2014, recorded an income of Rs 3,273 crore, of which 65%
was from unknown sources. This scenario points to one thing “
political parties need to be more transparent. According to existing
rules, it is mandatory to declare only donations above Rs
20,000. This gives political parties enough place to hide huge
sums, as can be seen from the evidence unearthed by Association
for Democratic Reforms. If the Modi government is truly
committed to blocking avenues for creation of black money it
ought to start with political parties.
