Major political parties have vehemently opposed any move to bring them under the ambit of the Right to Information Act saying that facilities and subsidised buildings given for their offices do not constitute funding from the government.
A Full Bench of the CIC comprising Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra and Information Commissioners Annapurna Dixit and M L Sharma was convened on Thursday to decide on whether political parties come under the RTI Act or not.
According to the RTI Act, a non-governmental body is declared a public authority if it is substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate
government. During the hearing, all major national parties like BJP, BSP, CPI-M and NCP except Congress were present while CPI had already represented their case during the last hearing.