Election Commission against state funding of elections

New Delhi: The Election Commission while not favouring state funding of elections has sought radical changes in the way funds are being spent by political parties. The Election Commission had told a Parliamentary Committee on Law and Personnel that it was not in favour of state funding as it would be unable to prohibit or keep a check on the candidates’ own expenditures or the expenditures of others over and above that which was provided by the state.

The EC also told the panel that the introduction of electoral bonds is a retrograde step. Putting its view in front of the parliamentary panel, the EC said that for addressing the real issue, radical changes were needed in provisions pertaining to receipt of funds by political parties and the manner in which such funds were spent by them so that it provided complete transparency.

The issue of electoral reforms has got a new focus of late with focus on having a corruption-free policy since the run-up to the last Lok Sabha elections. Since then the issue of criminalisation of politics and including the process of election and the corruption involved in the funding of political parties has almost been a subject of continuous national debate.