Examine whether the current legal framework under the RP Act, 1951 is adequate to check misuse of RUPP status for tax evasion and undisclosed donations.

Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) are parties registered with the Election Commission under Section 29A of the RP Act, 1951 [2] but without a reserved symbol. Their proliferation, coupled with income-tax exemption available to political parties, makes the adequacy of the statutory framework a live governance question.

Safeguards the Act does provide

• Section 29A makes registration conditional on filing the party's constitution, office-bearers and a verified address of communication [2].
• Section 29C obliges the treasurer to file an annual contribution report for donations above ₹20,000; this filing is the gateway to income-tax exemption [2].
• Parties are barred from accepting foreign contributions [2].
• The ECI exercises a delisting power — it delisted 334 RUPPs that had not contested elections for over six years, stripping them of the ability to collect donations and claim exemptions [3].

Where the framework falls short

• No penal teeth: non-filing under Section 29C invites no fine or automatic deregistration. ECI's own review found 2,174 RUPPs submitting no contribution report and 2,056 no annual audited accounts [1].
• No statutory de-registration power for financial impropriety — ECI's action rests on administrative circulars, not an express provision, making it vulnerable and slow.
• Disclosure blind spot: donations below the threshold and cash receipts remain invisible; bogus receipts enable laundering and tax evasion.
• Split jurisdiction: ECI registers parties while the Income Tax Department grants exemption, with weak information flow — 87 RUPPs were found non-existent only on physical verification [1].
• Capacity deficit: monitoring thousands of RUPPs is periodic and after-the-fact rather than continuous [1].

The framework is therefore sound in design but deficient in enforcement — a disclosure regime without sanction. Amending the RP Act to vest the ECI with express de-registration powers, prescribing penalties for non-filing, mandating digital donations and real-time ECI–CBDT data sharing would convert paper compliance into genuine transparency, strengthening the free and fair elections that Article 324 entrusts to the Commission.