EC allows Shiv Sena (UBT) party to accept public contributions ahead of assembly polls

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Thursday accepted the demand raised by the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party to accept public contributions in view of the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena got split in 2022, after CM Eknath Shinde along with majority of MLAs left the party.

The party had requested the Commission to issue a communication/certificate recording the status of the party for the purpose of accepting voluntary contributions from public. A delegation of the party led by their General Secretary, Subhash Desai also met the Commission today at Nirvachan Sadan, New Delhi.

The ECI in its communication dated July 18, has authorized the party to ‘accept any amount of contribution voluntarily offered to it by any person or company other than a government company’ in compliance under Section 29 B and Section 29C of the Representation of People Act, 1951, which governs the contribution to all political parties.

“It entails, special exemption under Section 13 A of the IT Act in which any income of a political party which is chargeable under the head “Income from house property” or “Income from other sources” or “Capital gains” or any income by way of voluntary contributions received by a political party from any person shall not be included in the total income of the previous year of such political party,” the ECI said. Earlier, the ECI allowed the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) to accept public donations ahead of the state elections.

The Lok Sabha polls 2024 have given a boost to the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, with the Shiv Sena (UBT) winning seven seats, the Congress 13, and the NCP-SP one, taking the total tally of the alliance 17.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dipped to nine seats in Maharashtra against 23 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The vote share stood at 26.18 per cent. (ANI)

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