(This story originally appeared in on Sep 12, 2014)

NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party, which calls itself totally transparent, and its main rival in Delhi have been dodging reminders from Election Commission to file expenditure details related to the assembly elections in Delhi, held on December 8 last year.Responding to the EC's last notice, AAP on February 22 had sought 15 days additional time to submit its expenditure accounts for the Delhi polls. However, even after six months, the party has not yet offered any details to the poll watchdog. BJP also is yet to file the returns. Congress failed to meet the deadline but has since complied with the mandatory requirement laid down for parties to give details of expenditure they incur during an election.However Congress, just like BJP and AAP, has not filed the details of the expenditure it ran up in the Lok Sabha elections despite the mandatory 90-day deadline having passed.According to the EC guidelines, all parties have to submit their poll expenditure accounts to the EC within 75 days of the last date of polling, in case of assembly elections, and within 90 days in case of parliamentary polls.The AAP is believed to have received Rs 20 crore during the Delhi assembly elections. Its contribution report on its website says the party has received Rs 18.73 crore in the last five months since April 1. However, there is no detail on how the party spent the contributions it has raised from India and abroad.The gulf between AAP's public thrust on transparency in election funding and their reluctance to submit the details, particularly at a time when it wants to fight polls on the plank of probity, has left many intrigued.The Congress and the BJP were the other major defaulters, but the Congress on May 13 submitted its expenditure details related to the assembly polls in five states of Delhi, MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram to the EC. The BJP is among few other parties yet to furnish details. Those who have submitted details include the BSP, NCP, CPI, CPM and the Congress. No party has yet provided any details of expenditure for the 2014 parliamentary polls.Why are parties reluctant to furnish expenditure details? While it is difficult to find the precise reason, the coyness could be because of the hesitation to provide the masses a peep into their respective state of finances. The filings with the EC are supposed to reveal total cash in hand of parties, cash in the bank and details of all fixed deposits and other receipts. Against this, parties have to disclose all expenditure during the assembly elections - for instance how much each party candidate has been funded to contest polls, travel expenditure of each party leader, expenditure on advertisements, etc.TOI contacted AAP for its reaction on why the party has so far refused to submit its election expenditure even six months after the deadline. There was, however, no reaction from the party which has repeatedly stressed that its books are..."open for anyone and everyone to see. Every single paisa received and spent is recorded," goes the party's claim.The EC is, meanwhile, seeking amendments to the Representation of People Act to make it mandatory for all parties to furnish records of their expenditure on a weekly basis during the elections and complete accounts within a week of the conclusion of polls."In US, expenditure details are disclosed by parties on a daily basis, why can this not be done in India?", argued an EC official.