After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced withdrawal of high denomination currency notes on November 8 last year, many had wondered about the fate of political parties in India who are believed to be one of the biggest holders of unaccounted money.
There had been debates on the need to make political funding more transparent. Raids carried out on political parties and leaders during demonetisation ascertained this point. Immediately after the PM’s announcement, NCP chief Sharad Pawar was trending on social media suggesting that the leader was worried about his illegal money. The first evidence against a party came from West Bengal against the Prime Minister’s own party, BJP, which was accused of depositing huge amount ahead of the notes ban announcement prompting to think that they were informed about the ban earlier. The biggest setback came for BSP’s Mayawati whose BSP was under radar after the Enforcement Directorate detected cash deposits totalling over Rs.104 crore in the party’s account in a bank in New Delhi.
Advertisement
A latest report in The Hindustan Times reveals that the top 15 political parties deposited Rs. 167 cr during the 50 days of demonetisation. The BSP has topped the list with a cash deposit of Rs 104 cr cash deposit. Other 14 parties have deposited Rs 63 crore of banned currencies.
Quoting officials from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Income Tax department (I-T), the report says that the BJP and Congress deposited Rs 4.75 cr and Rs 3.2 cr respectively from various parts of the country. Others ranged between Rs 80 lakh to Rs 3 crore.
The FIU and I-T covered only mainstream political parties such as BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), AIADMK, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) to compile the data. It excluded parties such as AIADMK’s rival DMK, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
