NEW DELHI: Nearly half of 52 recognised regional parties, mostly from the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir, failed to submit an annual contribution report for the financial year 2018-19 to the Election Commission before October 31 deadline and are set to miss tax exemption for the same.
The data provided by the Election Commission (EC) about contributions made by 7 national and 52 regional parties show that 27 have not filed the report mandated as per the 29 C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Among national parties, BJP was the last one to file the report, which was on the last date Oct 31.
While there as 59 state parties, the data provided by the EC under the Right to Information (RTI) plea by transparency activist Commodore Lokesh K Batra has given details of only 52.
With the suspension of internet services and shutdown continuing in Jammu and Kashmir and many political leaders under house arrest, all the three recognised parties of J&K — National Conference, National Panthers Party and Peoples Democratic Party — feature on the list of defaulters.
The list of defaulters also includes 13 parties from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Other regional parties that are yet to make submission include All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Delhi and All India Majlis-E-Ittehad-UI-Muslimeen (AIMIM) in Telangana.
The Commission forwarded the contribution reports to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for further action.