PAN ON POLITICAL DONATION

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare and his associates have largely got their way on the Lokpal issue and have declared that their next target would be reforming political funding and elections. Now, the Election Commission seems to have come to the government’s aid in taking preemptive steps to deny Team Anna the opportunity to stage an encore. Official sources said the EC wants certain mandatory disclosures — including quoting the permanent account number (PAN) — for political donations beyond a seemingly low threshold of R20,000. The EC has written to the income tax department to make it mandatory for all donors to political parties to submit their PAN and address proof for amounts of R20,000 and above. Besides, such payments must be made only through account payee cheques. With the proposed disclosures, the government will be able to track the source of political donations.