On Party Funding - CPI(M) Statement

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) wishes to clarify the nature and details of its funding in the context of the confusing reports in the media that the major share of the income of Communist Party of India (Marxist) remains "unknown".  The media reports are based on a statement of the Association for  Democratic Reforms, an NGO.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has  nothing to hide  about its income, its details and its sources.  As per the provisions of the Income Tax Act and the Representation of the People Act, all political parties are legally bound to submit their statement of accounts including income and expenditure and a list of  donors who donates above Rs. 20,000 to the Party.  The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has been regularly  submitting before the Election Commission and the Income Tax Department the statement of accounts including income and expenditure and a list of donors who donates above Rs. 20,000, their addresses, PAN etc.  As per law, political parties need not submit the addresses of contributors  who contributed amounts below Rs. 20,000 before the Election Commission and  the Income Tax Department. The CPI(M) had complied  the provisions of law and disclosed the addresses of the donors who donated above Rs. 20,000.  This has been mischievously interpreted that the major share of the income of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is from "unknown" sources and the Party has not disclosed the  sources of its major share of income.

The CPI(M) had submitted its statement of accounts appropriately audited by a Chartered Accountant for the year 2011-12 and also for the previous years  before the Election Commission and Income Tax Department as per the provisions of law.  The CPI(M) had also published the statement of accounts for the year 2011-12 in its website.  The statement of account for the year 2011-12 shows that the total income of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), i.e., the income of the Central Committee, state committees, district committees, zonal/area committees, local committees and branches is Rs. 1,03,84,65,122.  As per CPI(M) Constitution, each member of the Party should pay an amount as levy as prescribed by the Central Committee based on the income of each Party member and has to pay Rs. 2 every year as membership fee.  The income received as levy is Rs. 41,63,37,169 (40.09% of the total income of the Party) and membership fee is Rs. 20,91,262 (0.20%).  At present, CPI(M) has more than one million members.

The Party  received Rs. 52,49,03,619 (50.55% of total income) as voluntary contributions from the Party members, sympathizers and general public.  The donations are collected at ward, village, taluk, district and state levels by Party units such as branches, local committees, area/zonal committees, district committees, state committees and Central Committee.  All Party units are keeping records of their income and expenditure.  All units below the Central Committee are submitting their statement of accounts to the next higher committee and the state committees to the Central Committee for compilation and submission before the Election Commission and Income Tax Department.   Majority of the donors of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are from the poorer sections of the people  who donate only small amounts and far below Rs. 20,000 or even Rs. 1,000.  The Party has nothing to hide about the details of its income or about the list of donors. The entire income of the Party is from known sources as described above and the accounts regarding the incomes and  expenditures of the Party are kept  as provided by law and Party Constitution by the respective Party units.  But the Party faces practical difficulties  to publish the names and addresses of more than one million Party members and other  millions of donors and their contributions.

The other incomes of the Party during the year 2011-12 are interest on deposits Rs. 8,17,96,333 and miscellaneous income (sale of  old newspapers, furnitures, equipments, vehicles etc)  Rs. 1,33,36,739.