Section 23 Inspection of accounts or records
If the Central Government has, for any reason, to be recorded in writing, any ground to suspect that any provision of this Act has been or is being, contravened by—
(a) any political partyDefined in section 2(n): political party means— (i) an association or body of individual citizens of India— (A) to be registered with the Election Commission of India as a political party under section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951); or (B) which has set up candidates for election to any Legislature, but ...; or
(b) any personDefined in section 2(m): person includes— (i) an individual; (ii) a Hindu undivided family; (iii) an association; (iv) a company registered under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956); or
(c) any organisation; or
(d) any associationDefined in section 2(a): association means an association of individuals, whether incorporated or not, having an office in India and includes a society, whether registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860), or not, and any other organisation, by whatever name called,
it may, by general or special order, authorise such gazetted officer, holding a Group A post under the Central Government or such other officer or authority or organisation, as it may think fit (hereinafter referred to as the inspecting officer), to inspect any account or record maintained by such political partyDefined in section 2(n): political party means— (i) an association or body of individual citizens of India— (A) to be registered with the Election Commission of India as a political party under section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951); or (B) which has set up candidates for election to any Legislature, but ..., personDefined in section 2(m): person includes— (i) an individual; (ii) a Hindu undivided family; (iii) an association; (iv) a company registered under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), organisation or associationDefined in section 2(a): association means an association of individuals, whether incorporated or not, having an office in India and includes a society, whether registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860), or not, and any other organisation, by whatever name called, as the case may be, and thereupon every such inspecting officer shall have the right to enter in or upon any premises at any reasonable hour, before sunset and after sunrise, for the purpose of inspecting the said account or record.