I-T raids at 110 sites of Oxfam, CPR offices

New Delhi: The Income-Tax (I-T) department on Wednesday conducted raids at the offices of leading think tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Oxfam India, the official sources said. The raids were reportedly conducted with simultaneous searches in at least 110 locations in Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and some other states "over funding of more than 20 registered but unrecognised political parties (RUPPs)," the officials further said.

While CPR is a public policy think tank, Oxfam is a global organisation dedicated to fighting poverty and injustice.

The sources said, “A coordinated action has been launched by the I-T department against certain RUPPs, their promoters and linked entities to probe the source of their income and expenditure.”

As part of this operation, one team from the I-T department also visited the office of a lawyer in the Mayur Vihar area.

According to official sources, the tax teams were assisted by the local police during the searches at all places.

It was learnt that there were some instances of political funding through alleged illegal means that have also been investigated as part of the action, they said.

The surprise action is understood to have been taken by the department on the recommendation of the Election Commission (EC), which had recently struck off at least 198 entities from its list of RUPP after they were found non-existent during physical verification.

The apex poll body had announced that it was taking action against more than 2,100 entities, categorised as RUPP by it, for flouting rules and election laws, including those related to filing of monetary contributions, failing to update their addresses and names of office bearers, as some of these political parties were indulging in serious "financial impropriety".

The EC's action came after the recommendations of the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of states. The CEOs reported that these RUPP either were "non-existent" on verification or the letters issued by authorities to verify their addresses and communication details had been returned as undelivered by the department of posts.

Subsequently, the EC decided to withdraw various benefits accorded to these parties under the Symbols Order (1968), including the allocation of common election symbols.

In a statement issued in June this year, the poll panel had said any RUPP aggrieved by the decision can approach the CEO concerned within 30 days along with all evidence of existence, year-wise annual audited accounts, contribution report, expenditure report and updated list of office-bearers.

Sources in the poll panel had said there were specific details of various such parties, available publicly, that had flouted laws and rules on disclosure of funds and donations.

According to official data, there are nearly 2,800 RUPPs in India. After verification, the poll panel had been pushing the government to allow it to de-register these political parties.

Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar has been spearheading the cleanup drive against such political entities, the sources in the EC said.