Pradeep Nandrajog, J.

1. Filed in public interest, the petitioner asserts that there is a blatant violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as ‘FCRA’) by political parties which include the Respondent No.3 and the Respondent No.4. It is asserted that Section 29(b) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 prohibits political parties from taking donations from Government Companies as also from a foreign source. The petitioner asserts that FCRA prohibits acceptance of foreign contributions by political parties as per the mandate of Section 4(1)(e) thereof.

2. Since the writ petition drew attention to donations made to political parties for the period up to the year 2009, we record at the outset that our concern is not with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 which has come into force on September 26, 2010. Our discussion of the legal position would be with respect to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976.

3. By way of illustration, the petitioner relies upon the annual report of Vedanta Resources plc, a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1985 and registered in England and Wales with registration No.