Information about political parties denied by the Election Commission
26 Aug, 2013An application was filed with the Election Commission of India (ECI) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get information about six state political parties, viz. Samajwadi Party, All India Trinamool Congress, DMK, AIDMK, JD (U) and SAD.
The demanded information pertained to the electoral reforms proposals sent to these parties by the government and ECI, details of land allotted to these parties by the government, contributions made to the party fund by party members and legislators involved in corrupt practice. The information was demanded citing Section 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; of the RTI Act which states that information concerning a private body that can be accessed by the public authority under any other law for the time being in force, can be provided under the Act.
However, the election commission declined to provide the information stating that the political parties are private bodies which are not covered under the RTI Act. The reply from the ECI also said that there is no provision under the RTI Act to provide information after collecting from the private bodies. Responding to the first appeal filed by the applicant, the authority said that only six of the national parties have been declared as public authority by the central information commission and also that the political parties are not required to inform the ECI about their internal discussions.
Section 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; states "information" means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force. Therefore, it should not be expected from a public authority to collect the data from a public authority and provide to an applicant.