Supreme Court seeks reply of Centre, EC on political funding law

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission of India on a PIL challenging the recent amendments made to the law related to political funding.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued the notice on a plea filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, said that the amendment has removed the cap that barred corporates from donating more than 7.5% of their average net profit to a political party.

He also said that the political parties can now take donations in the form of election bonds without disclosing the source.

The Lok Sabha had in March this year approved a proposal by the government, as part of amendments to the Finance Bill, 2017, relaxing conditions for corporate funding to political parties.