EC bans inactive and non-existing 339 regional political parties after IT raids

EC bans inactive and non-existing 339 regional political parties after IT raids

Last Thursday Income Tax raided Janatavadi Congress Party operating from a slum in Sion and War Veteran Party in a small Borivali flat for hawala transactions of over Rs 150 crores in two years.

Staff ReporterUpdated: Wednesday, September 14, 2022, 07:40 PM IST
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Election Commission of India | Photo: Representative Image

The Election Commission (EC) cracked the whip on 339 Regional Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP) for noncompliance taking the taking total tally to 537 defaulting RUPPs since May 25, 2022. While EC declared 253 Regional Unrecognised Political Parties inactive and barred them from availing of benefits, an additional 86 Non-existent parties were deleted from the EC list.

Five of the inactive unrecognised political parties from Maharashtra were identified as Rashtriya Aman Sena at Govandi, Rashtriya Lokshahi Party in Karjat, Republican Party of India (Kamble) in Navi Mumbai, Shivaji Congress Party in Malegaon and The Humanist Party of India in Santacruz.

Another six non-existing political parties including Kisan Garib Nagrik Party based in Jogeshwari, Krantisena Maharashtra in Mahim, Rashtriya Sarvasamaj Party in Malad, Republican Presidium Party of India in Pune, Uttrakhand Sena Party in Thane and Satyavadi Paksh in Aurangabad were amongst the six regional parties in Maharashtra.

Last Thursday Income Tax raided Janatavadi Congress Party operating from a slum in Sion and War Veteran Party in a small Borivali flat for hawala transactions of over Rs 150 crores in two years. Both parties had collected donations of Rs 150 crore in the last two years to help hawala operators to evade tax and then returned the donation in cash for a nominal commission.

The raids in Mumbai were part of a coordinated simultaneous Pan India multiple raids by the tax sleuths probing tax evasion against registered unrecognised political parties and their alleged dubious financial transactions.

I-T sleuths recorded the statements of Janatavadi Congress Party president Santosh Maruti Katke and War Veterans Party president and former Indian Navy Captain Lawrence Nathaniel.

While Santosh Katke alleged that the Income Tax raid was a conspiracy and said a game is being played against him, Captain Lawrence Nathaniel claimed he had shifted to Goa and the Borivali flat was given out on rent.

The raiding I-T team questioned the political party presidents on the election contested so far by their party and the expenses incurred. The taxmen also asked for income tax papers related to the political party, papers related to donations and bills.

"253 RUPPs have been declared inactive as they have not responded to the letter/notice delivered to them and have not contested a single election either to the General Assembly of a State or the Parliament Election 2014 & 2019. 86 RUPPs have been found to be non-existent after a physical verification carried out by the respective Chief Electoral Officers of concerned States/UTs and undelivered letters/notices from Postal Authority sent to the registered address of concerned RUPP," said EC in a media statement.

According to the Income Tax Department, 199 unrecognized registered political parties had claimed Rs 445 crore donations in 2018-19, while 219 similar parties had claimed donations of Rs 608 crore in 2019-20. The unrecognised parties failed to provide information to the Election Commission under Form 24 required as per Section 29 of the Act. Some parties claimed donations of over Rs 100 to 150 crores defying the rules and regulations. EC had struck off about 198 entities from its list of RUPP after they were found non-existent during physical verification.

Section 80GGC of Income Tax allows an individual to donate any amount to any political party registered under section 29A of the Representation of the People Act. The individual then can avail of tax deduction of up to 100 per cent of the donated amount. Hawala operators formed political parties registered with the EC to transfer huge amounts to these political entities via cheques and online transactions showing donations.

The funds were transferred from the account of the political parties to different accounts showing various expenses. The operators layered the funds further with help of shell companies.

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