Congress, BJP didn’t violate FCRA: Government

The Centre on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that both the BJP and the Congress had not violated the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act in receiving donations from companies.

A bench of Justices J.S. Khehar and Arun Mishra posted for final hearing on September 14 the two appeals filed by the BJP and the Congress against a Delhi high court verdict asking the Centre and the Election Commission to take appropriate action for allegedly accepting foreign funds in violation of the law.

Acting on a public interest petition, the high court had held that both the Congress and the BJP had flouted the norms of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and directed the Union home ministry and the EC to “relook and reappraise the receipts of the political parties” to identify foreign donations and take action.

In their appeal, the Congress and the BJP contended that the contributions received from companies, which were subsidiaries of Indian companies, would not be deemed as contributions from a foreign sources even though they are foreign companies. They contended that there was no concealment or suppression of such contributions which were fully reflected in the returns submitted to the EC for three to five years.

Supporting both the parties, the Centre in its response said that, subsequent to the HC verdict, notices were sent to the parties seeking their explanations and it was found that contributions received were not foreign contributions within the meaning of the FCRA and hence no action was called for. The EC said it had no role in the investigation into the source of funds.