NEW DELHI: A week before it suspended the recognition of P A Sangma ’s National People’s Party for not filing its expenditure statement for 2014 Lok Sabha polls , the Election Commission ticked off the Congress for challenging its powers to ask parties to file their annual audit report with it.

The poll panel wrote to the Congress on June 9 underlining its powers under Article 324(1) of the Constitution to issue instructions to deal with situations not covered by enacted laws and rules, and directed the grand old party to file a copy of its annual audit report for 2013-14 within 30 days of receipt of its letter.

Though the EC’s missive to AICC treasurer did not say as much, a senior commission official indicated that the Congress could face a fate similar to National People’s Party in case it failed to abide by its instructions. With four national parties and 28 state parties already having filed their audited annual accounts and others expected to do so after a recent third reminder by EC, the onus is now on the Congress to either fall in line or face suspension of its recognition.

READ ALSO: In a first, EC suspends recognition of Sangma's party for failing to file election expenses

Incidentally, even the BJP is yet to file its annual audit report for 2013-14. The original deadline for the same was November 30, 2014. However, unlike the Congress, it has not challenged the commission’s transparency guidelines issued in August last year.

The EC now hopes the suspension of National People’s Party recognition on Tuesday will serve as a wake-up call for the Congress that defiance of its lawful instructions would not be taken lightly.

The Congress had, in a letter sent to the EC on May 15, objected to its transparency guidelines requiring parties to file their annual audit reports with the commission. It had argued that the party was already filing its annual audit report along with income tax returns. Section 29C of the RP Act, it said, only required parties to submit their annual contribution reports in respect of contributions in excess of Rs 20,000, and there was no requirement to furnish an annual audit report.

“The guidelines issued by the commission cannot override statutory provision...such guidelines are not legally enforceable nor can be implemented until and unless amendment is carried out in the principal Act (RP Act),” said the Congress.

The EC, in its rejoinder dated June 9, referred to a 1978 Supreme Court verdict in M S Gill Vs the Chief Election Commissioner to underline that Article 324(1) gave EC residuary powers “in the infinite variety of situations that may emerge from time to time in a large democracy as ours”.

It also referred to a 2002 judgment of the SC in Union of India Vs ADR, which said that EC’s jurisdiction is wide enough to include all powers necessary for smooth conduct of elections and the word ‘election’ is used in a wide sense to include entire process of election comprising several stages and steps.

“The Income Tax, 1961, does not prohibit the Commission to ask for a copy of the audit report of political parties. The electors have the right to know that the funds raised by political parties on which tax exemption has been allowed are spent for the objectives mentioned in the memorandum of issue of the parties,” the EC said while directing Congress to comply with the guidelines and file a copy of its annual audit report within the next 30 days.