Challenges

• The proposal does not disrupt the flow of illicit political donations but only channels it differently, and will not reduce the proportion of cash from unverifiable sources in the total donations received.

• The political parties would now have to do is to find more people to lend their names to these donations, hence transparency would still be compromised in funding.

• Electoral bonds provide a mechanism of anonymity for its buyers. The move though aimed to safeguard general public can be used by corporate houses to fund political parties to develop nexus with party at the receiving end.

• The Budget makes it mandatory for political parties to file returns within a time limit, but in the absence of extreme penal provisions compliance is likely to be low.