Following the judgement of the Central Information Commission (CIC) to bring six national political parties under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) State unit on Thursday demanded inclusion of regional political parties of the State under the Act too with immediate effect.
“It is a historical judgement of the CIC. In a democratic country, all political parties should disclose their sources of funding and expenditures to the public. As per Section 2 (h) of the Act, any agency or institution receiving Government largesse can be declared as a public authority and is bound to follow the provisions of the Act. In this context, we appeal to the State Information Commission (SIC) to take suo motu cognizance of the decision and declare the regional political parties as public authorities and order them to name their public information officer and prepare the suo motu disclosure of funding as per the requirement of Section 4 of the transparency Act within a definite period,” party State convenor Nishikanta Mohapatra told mediapersons here.
He said, “We will take out a procession on June 8 at 5 pm from Vani Vihar to Master Canteen Square to express our wholehearted support to the CIC judgement.”
“This judgement will no doubt strengthen our democracy by ensuring transparency and accountability among the political parties. It will also prevent parties from taking assistance from questionable sources and, thereby, prevent the political-business-criminal nexus,” added party State secretary Bismay Mohapatra. He also condemned the political parties who oppose the decision of the Central Information Commission (CIC).