Political parties to come under RTI: CIC

Setting a new benchmark in transparency in politics, the Central Information Commission on Monday ruled that Political parties will now come under the Right to Information or RTI Act. With this ruling, Political parties will now have to share details like who funds them, how they spend that money and even how they select candidates for elections, if sought. In its order today, the Central Information Commission or CIC said that any written records can now be sought from any entity in a political party. Most parties, in November 2012, had vehemently opposed such a move and had argued that they are not government funded and so should not be brought under the Act, which seeks to make transparent all expenditure of public money.