News
Presidential poll: Hire a party for Rs. 6 million
Political party names for the use of presidential candidates at the upcoming elections are on offer for amounts varying from Rs 5 to six million.
One of the candidates not affiliated to a political party and set to contest the presidential election has been offered the party name and symbol for cash.
Under existing election laws, a presidential candidate should be a former Member of Parliament if he or she wants to contest the elections independently or should contest from a recognised political party. Currently 70 political parties are registered with the Election Commission.
However, some of these registered political parties have only officials without engaging in any political activity.
The Sunday Times inquiries revealed that some of the political parties were willing to “negotiate” on allowing candidates to contest under their party names and symbols.
Several independent candidates and professional groups are also negotiating with registered political parties to field their candidates through those parties.