EC takes U-Turn; clarifies that it abides by CIC ruling that political parties are under RTI ambit
In an apparent U-Turn, the election commission of India has clarified reports that it had said political parties were out of the purview of the Right to Information Act, The Times of India reported.
The Election Commission of India clarified that it goes by the Central Information Commission (CIC) order of 3rd June, 2013 that declared national parties as public authorities for the purposes of RTI Act.
Earlier, the EC’s statement came while deciding the appeal of an RTI applicant seeking to know donations collected by six national parties who were brought under the ambit of the transparency law by the CIC in June 2013.
"Requisite information is not available in the Commission. This is related to political parties and they are out of purview of the RTI. They may submit information of donation/amount collected through by Electoral bonds in their contribution report for the financial year 2017-18 in the ECI for which the due date is September 30, 2018," the appeal order citing comment of the Central Public Information Officer has said.
Six out of seven political parties -- the BJP, Congress, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPM -- for which information was sought by the applicant were brought under the ambit of the RTI Act by a full bench of the commission on June 3, 2013. The order has not been challenged in the higher courts but the political parties have refused to entertain the RTI applications directed at them. Several activists have approached the Supreme Court on the grounds of non-compliance of the CIC order and the matter is pending.
from Daily News & Analysis https://ift.tt/2Je1RQw
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