AMN / New Delhi
The Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha today slammed the Government for what it called ‘opening flood gates’ of opaque corporate funding of political parties through an amendment in the Representation of People’s Act included in the Finance Bill which removes all restrictions on the amount of money a company can donate to a political party out of its profit.
They demanded that amendment be withdrawn and a new bill on transparency in political funding be brought in by the Government.
The issue was raised during the discussion in the House on the amendments made in the Rajya Sabha in the Finance Bill yesterday.
Other amendments relating to linkage of Aadhaar Card and PAN card and the one in the Income Tax Act which authorises officials not to disclose the reason for searches and raid to an assessee were also greatly objected to by the Opposition Members.
Deepender Hooda, who initiated the discussion, Saugata Roy of the All India Trinamool Congress and Bhartruhari Mahtab of the BJD said the Government should revert to the earlier provision in the RP Act according to which a company could donate only 7.