Parties mum on sources of funds for ‘costly’ polls

R Dutta Choudhury
GUWAHATI, April 5 – The elections are turning into costly affairs for the political parties, but no party in Assam is ready as yet to spell out their sources of fund collection or the election budget. ‘Well-wisher’ has become the commonly used term by the political parties to describe their sources of ‘donations’ for generating the election funds. Though the Election Commission (EC) has clearly fixed expenditures that can be incurred by the political parties and candidates, it is an established fact that the expenditures for the elections are increasing with the major parties even using helicopters for campaigning.

The Assam Tribune contacted the major political parties to know their sources of income and election budget, but none of the parties could clearly state the amount to be used for the polls and the sources of income. They all stated that they are collecting “donations from well-wishers” to generate the election fund. But the question is who are the ‘well wishers’ and why they are spending so much of money to finance the poll campaigns of the political parties. Of course, the national parties also receive an amount from the Central committees for the elections.

When contacted, the vice-president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee Pankaj Bora said that the expenditures of the Congress would be within the norms set by the Election Commission. He said that all the expenditures incurred by the APCC would be properly audited by chartered accountants and the same would be sent to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and the Election Commission. He said that the APCC always has the practice of going for proper audit of the accounts so that those could be forwarded to the AICC.

Commenting on the sources of income of the party for the elections, Bora said that “voluntary contributions and donations from well-wishers” constitute a large chunk of the election fund, while the APCC also receives funds from the AICC for poll campaigning. He said that contributions from the members of the party and membership fees also constitute a portion of the party fund.

General secretary of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Padma Hazarika said, “The AGP always faces shortage of fund to face elections as like the national parties, we do not receive funds from Delhi.” He revealed that the AGP is yet to calculate its budget to face the ensuing Lok Sabha polls and the party is banking on “donations from well-wishers” to run the party’s campaign for the elections.

Hazarika said that apart from the cost of printing of posters and banners, the parliamentary constituency-level committees demanded at least an amount of Rs 20 lakh for campaigning and “we still do not know whether the Central committee of the party would be able to generate the required funds.” He also said that membership fees also constitute a portion of the party’s funds as every new member has to pay five rupees for membership fees and annual renewal fees of every member is three rupees. Hazarika also claimed that the AGP has not taken any money from the BJP for election campaigning.

Spokesman of the State unit of the BJP Charan Deka said that the party is yet to finalize the budget for the polls. He said that donations from ‘well-wishers’ would constitute a major portion of the election fund of the party, while the State BJP is also receiving funds from the Central committee of the party for poll campaigning. He said that every active member of the party have to pay Rs 100 as membership fees and general members have to pay five rupees. The membership has to be renewed in every three years and the membership fees also constitute a major portion of the party’s funds. Deka further asserted that the audited accounts of the BJP would be sent to the Election Commission and to the Central committee of the party. ASSAM TRIBUNE