-The Telegraph Right to Information activists have accused political parties of making a mountain out of a molehill in their opposition to the Central Information Commission order bringing six parties under the RTI Act's ambit. They say the act has enough provisions to block queries on sensitive subjects such as campaign strategy or political discussions at meetings. "We moved the plea (before the CIC) to bring political parties under the RTI Act mainly...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) has written to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to keep tabs on all suspicious transactions of politicians, especially those contesting elections, and report them to enforcement agencies for investigation. The directive to the FIU is a bid to cleanse elections of illicit money use. The FIU is also preparing dossiers on asset details of all candidates contesting Lok Sabha and assembly polls,...

-The Hindu     While the legitimacy of political parties depends on their acceptance of financial transparency under the RTI Act, their internal decision-making processes should be left alone The Central Information Commission (CIC) decision declaring political parties as public authorities under the Right to Information Act has again pit the political class against the people. Political parties have increasingly lost legitimacy due to opaque financing, cultivation of individuals with a criminal background, subversion of...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Breaking ranks with the other parties, the Samajwadi Party on Thursday said it favoured a mechanism of checks and balances for transparency in the functioning of the political parties. The SP was referring to the June 3, 2013, ruling of the chief information commissioner (CIC) that says political parties come under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Almost all national parties have opposed the CIC ruling. National...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said today that New Delhi had turned down the state's request for 300 companies of central forces for the panchayat elections. Mamata said the Centre's inability to spare forces was the reason that held her back from making such a request that was necessitated by a court ruling. But sources in the state election commission said the state had done "too little, too late" and the...