Congress rejects CIC ruling bringing political parties under RTI

Congress today rejected the CIC order on bringing political parties under RTI ambit, contending that such “adventurist” approach would harm democratic institutions. “It is not acceptable. We totally disagree with it. Such adventurist approach will create a lot of harm and damage to democratic institutions,” AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters in New Delhi [caption id=“attachment_840555” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi[/caption] The BJP too rejected the ruling saying the Election Commission should decide on this issue. “Whether political parties should declare their assets to CIC is a decision for the Election Commission to take,” BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said. On Monday, the Central Information Commission, a quasi-judicial body, had ruled that six national parties Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI-M, CPI and BSP have been substantially funded indirectly by the central government and they have the character of public authority under the RTI Act as they perform public functions. After the order of the full bench of CIC, the parties will be answerable to the citizens regarding their source of funding, how they spend money and choice of candidates for elections, among other issues. With PTI inputs