As part of the ongoing crackdown on tax evasion and illicit funds, the Bharatiya Janata Party has asked all its MPs and MLAs to submit the full details of their banking transactions from Nov 8 onwards.
The central leadership of the party will examine the bank statements of these representatives to check for any illegal or suspicious cash transactions.
On Nov 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that all cash holding in existing 500 and 1000 rupee denominations are being made invalid and had to be exchanged in banks.
This was an unexpected announcement intended to force those holding illicit funds to come out and disclose their undeclared income.
The government yesterday also introduced a new law under which it would levy 50% of all undeclared income as tax after scrutiny of accounts.
HIGH MORAL GROUND
BJP’s move to enforce accountability within its organization makes it the first such political party to do so.
The demonetization move had caught other parties unawares and it is expected that much of their cash funds have been rendered useless by the move.
While the other parties continue to protest the crackdown, BJP is trying to claim the moral ground — in addition to smoking out any thieves inside the building — by asking for bank statements.
It is expected that the other parties will not be able to follow suit as their organizational cash hordes been decimated and they would need whatever funds are available with their leaders and members to fight elections.