Allahabad HC admits plea for probe into Cong, BJP funding

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, hearing the issue of alleged foreign contributions to the Congress, BJP and other parties being probed by the Centre, on Monday said the petition had a “far-reaching effect” and would, therefore, be treated as a public interest litigation (PIL).

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, hearing the issue of alleged foreign contributions to the Congress, BJP and other parties being probed by the Centre, on Monday said the petition had a “far-reaching effect” and would, therefore, be treated as a public interest litigation (PIL).

It also directed the petition to be heard on November 20 by the PIL bench.

The bench, comprising justices Devi Prasad Singh and Ashok Pal Singh, took the decision after hearing Dr Nutan Thakur, a social activist and member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who had claimed that the home ministry’s probe into AAP’s foreign contributions was “one-sided”.

The petition pointed out that on October 26 last year, Thakur had sent a complaint to the home ministry with regard to the EC having asked it to probe the alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010, by the Congress and BJP by receiving donations of about `5 crore each from two Vedanta Group subsidiaries.