The Congress on Tuesday rejected the Central Information Commission order on bringing political parties under the Right to Information ambit, contending that such "adventurist" approach would harm democratic institutions.
"It is not acceptable. We totally disagree with it. Such adventurist approach will create a lot of harm and damage to democratic institutions," All India Congress Committee General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters in New Delhi.
The CIC held that the parties are public authorities and answerable to citizens under RTI Act. The CIC, a quasi-judicial body, has said that six national parties -- the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, CPI and Bahujan Samaj Paty have been substantially funded indirectly by the central government and they have the character of public authority under the RTI Act as they perform public functions.
After the order of the full bench of CIC, the parties will be answerable to the citizens regarding their source of funding, how they spend money and choice of candidates for elections, among other issues.
