Action sought : Congress, BJP found guilty of accepting foreign funds

With the dismissal of Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) by the Supreme Court, recently, the demand to take action against two principal national parties Congress and BJP getting momentum, as they were found guilty of accepting foreign funds.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has written letters to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Election Commission (ECI) urging them to implement and comply with the directions of the Delhi High Court and take action against two national parties BJP and Congress as ‘contemplated by law’ within a specified period of six months.

The Delhi High Court in its judgment dated 28th March, 2014 had found both Congress and BJP prima facie guilty of accepting foreign funds and violating the provisions of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976. Against the High Court’s order, Congress and BJP had separately filed SLPs in the Supreme Court on 26 June, 2014, and 26 August, 2014 respectively, and consequently the matter became sub judice. The SLPs in the Supreme Court were “dismissed as withdrawn” on November 29, 2016.

In view of the fact that now the Delhi HC order of March 28, 2014 has attained finality and it has been re-affirmed in a way, it is imperative that ECI, as a constitutional body and MHA as an administering authority under FCRA should act and take action against these two national parties for violating the FCRA within a specified time as directed by the High Court.

ADR said that ECI being the Constitutional authority to conduct free and fair elections in the country, it has the powers to either suspend or withdraw the recognition of a political party under Section 16 (A)(b) of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

ADR in its letter, addressed to MHA, has also stated that if “action as contemplated by law” is not taken within a reasonable time, the inescapable conclusion will be that the verdict of the Delhi HC is not being complied with wilfully, and there will be no option but to initiate proceedings for contempt of court against the MHA.