Political parties cannot disclose their internal functioning and financial information under the Right to Information Act as it will hamper their smooth functioning and become a weak spot for rivals with malicious intentions to take advantage of.
This was the answer given by the Union government to the Supreme Court against making political parties publicly accountable under the RTI Act.
The affidavit filed by the Department of Personnel and Training said the Act “never visualised or considered to bring political parties within its ambit.”
The Supreme Court had earlier issued notice to six national parties, including the BJP and the Congress, asking them why they can’t come clean and explain their hesitation to disclose complete details of their income, expenditure, donations, funding, including donor details, to the public under the RTI Act.
The other major parties to receive the notice were the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The EC and the Centre were also asked to file responses.
