Finally, some sunshine

BS OPINION

The passage of the Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Bill by the Lok Sabha marks a major step forward even though it is unlikely that this will put an end to the practice of underground funding of the country's elections.

For the first time, companies are to be allowed to fund political parties, up to a maximum of 5 per cent of their profits.

While no one is likely to give such a large amount (pre-tax profits of India Inc is estimated at Rs 73,254 crore by CMIE), that's a potential contribution upwards of Rs 3,600 crore, far in excess of even the wildest calculations of how much money is spent on elections in the country.

And since such funds will be tax-exempt, it is safe to imagine that a large amount of money should begin coming in through this fashion, even though the details of the exemption have not yet been spelt out.

It also helps that all parties will have to submit their accounts regularly to the Election Commission and that a list will have to be maintained of donors who have contributed more than Rs 20,000.

The decision to make a distinction between the campaign expenses of national leaders like Mr Vajpayee and Mrs Gandhi who tour the country to canvass votes for their partymen, and those of individual candidates is also a welcome move.

How much of India's black money funding will come out into the open, of course, will depend on how much the political parties want it to.

For instance, until the official limit imposed on election campaign expenditure by each candidate is raised to realistic levels, few political parties may want to bring their election funding fully into the open.

It is also an open question as to whether political parties would like the names of top donors to be public knowledge, especially since obvious parallels will be drawn in relation to any favours done for that donor later.

The same applies from the point of view of the corporate sponsor. A possible solution may lie in post-election audits by the Election Commission of money spent on the campaign.

If candidates are to be debarred for spending above limits (which will have to be raised to reasonable levels), parties will be forced to declare the actual expenditure, and in order to do so, they will be encouraged to seek legal funding for this.

The suggestion by the law minister, though fortunately not in the bill, that the Election Commission draw up a code for public and private broadcasters to allot television/radio time to political parties on the basis of votes polled by them in the last elections is, however, a truly bizarre one.

One can understand this for state-owned channels like Doordarshan or AIR which could be monopolised by the government of the day, but to force this on private channels is another form of censorship, even if well-intentioned.

News media will give as much time to a party as it judges fit "" today, the suggestion may be to base this on the number of votes polled, tomorrow this could be extended to a Mandal-type obligation on the basis of population share!