Political parties can be flush with cash, something that had robbed some sheen off the five Vidhan Sabha elections held in February-March this year.
After the much hyped budget proposals on political funding, aimed at bringing transparency, cash is likely to come back into the coffers of political parties. The only thing that has changed is that if companies do not have cash, or company rules require accounting, they can use electoral bonds.
Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday stated that by an amendment of the Finance At 2017, "the limit on maximum amount that a political party can receive from a company in cash has been removed". This brought some more clarity on the subject of funding of political parties.
In what seems to be a reversal of the budget proposal that companies make their contribution through cheques or electoral bonds, cash donations have come back.
The budget proposal, it may be recalled, had slashed the maximum cash donation that an individual can make from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2000, an amount that the Election Commission of India had also mooted for this.
The minister also said there was no proposal to review the law on foreign contributions to political parties.
