Political parties can now file financial statements online

Source: The post is based on the article “Political parties can now file financial statements online” published in PIB on 3rd July 2023

What is the News?

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a new web portal to allow political parties to file their financial accounts online.

What is the purpose of launching an online facility for filing financial statements by Political parties?

The online facility for filing financial statements by political parties has been created with twin objectives:

– Firstly, to facilitate political parties in overcoming the difficulties in physical filing of reports and 

– Secondly, to ensure timely filing of financial statements in the prescribed or standardized formats. 

What are the financial reports political parties have to file online?

Political Parties need to file a Contribution Report, Audited Annual Account, and Election Expenditure Statement.

These financial statements are required to be submitted by political parties to the Election Commission/Chief Electoral Officers of States/Union Territories, as per the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 & transparency guidelines issued by the Commission.

The portal also has a facility for sending reminder messages on the registered mobile number and registered emails of the authorized representatives of the political party so that the dates of compliances are not missed. 

What happens if the political party does not want to file their financial accounts online?

The political parties not willing to file the financial report through online mode will have to convey the reasons to the Commission in writing. Then, it may continue to file its reports in hard copy along with CDs/Pen drives in the prescribed formats. 

The commission will in turn publish all such reports online, along with a letter of justification sent by the party for not filing financial statements online.