Elections need money but also protection from money

Transparency and minimising illicit funds in electoral finance – party income, campaign funds and expenditure – is hands-down the biggest challenge for democracies world over. Vital to the idea of free and fair elections is for voters to know where a party or candidate’s money is coming from and how they’re spending it.

How do parties raise funds? | From members, individuals, private donors. From unions, trusts and companies. The last, income from companies, has been the most contentious worldwide including in India, which decades ago had fleetingly banned corporate donations. The concern is companies that fill party coffers and politicians’ pockets exert unfair influence on policy. But bans on company donations tend to drive such transactions underground. Two, regulations and caps have failed to bring in transparency in such transactions of large amounts.

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