Finance Minister Announces Plan to Reinstate Electoral Bonds: Congress Criticizes, Questions Further “Looting”; Supreme Court Had Previously Declared Scheme Unconstitutional

Nirmala Sitharaman: There may be controversy again on the Electoral Bond Scheme. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in an interview to Hindustan Times that if we come to power, we will bring back the Electoral Bond Scheme again. For this, suggestions will be taken at a large level first.

On the issue of the government reintroducing electoral bonds, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said how much will they loot this time.

Earlier on February 15, the Supreme Court had banned the electoral bond scheme for political funding with immediate effect. The Supreme Court had said – this scheme is unconstitutional. Maintaining the confidentiality of the bond is unconstitutional. This scheme is a violation of the Right to Information.

What the opposition leaders said

Jairam Ramesh wrote on X –

We know that BJP looted 4 lakh crores through PayPM scam. Now they want to continue the loot. Just look at these methods. PayPM: 1- Give donation, get business. 2. Postpaid bribe- Give contract, take bribe. Bribe for pre-paid and postpaid- 3.8 lakh crores. 3. Post-raid bribe- Hafta recovery. Cost of post-raid bribe- 1853 rupees. 4- Fake companies- Money laundering. Cost of fake companies- 419 crores. If they win and bring electoral bonds again, how much will they loot this time?

Kapil Sibal said- 

I respect Nirmala Sitharaman. In an interview, she is saying that electoral bonds will be brought back. She also said that when this scheme was first introduced, transparency was kept in mind. The Supreme Court has said that there was no transparency in it. They (the government) brought it in a non-transparent way. Now the problem is that they have money for this election, but they also know that even if they lose, money will be needed. I want to ask Mohan Bhagwat why he is silent on this issue.

BJP got the highest funding from electoral bonds

BJP got the highest funding from electoral bonds. Since 2018, BJP has received the highest donations through electoral bonds. In 6 years, BJP got electoral funding of 6337 crores through electoral bonds. Congress got electoral donations of 1108 crores.

What is an Electoral Bond?

In the 2017 budget, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the Electoral Bond Scheme. On 2 January 2018, the Central Government notified it. This is a kind of promissory note. Which is also called a bank note. Any Indian citizen or company can buy it.

If you want to buy it, you will get it in selected branches of State Bank of India. The person who buys it can donate this bond to the party of his choice. That party should just be eligible for this.

What is the whole matter?

This scheme was challenged in 2017 itself, but the hearing started in 2019. On April 12, 2019, the Supreme Court directed all political parties to give all the information related to electoral bonds in an envelope to the Election Commission by May 30, 2019. However, the court did not stop this scheme.

Later in December 2019, the petitioner Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) filed an application to stay the scheme. It cited media reports that pointed out how the concerns of the Election Commission and the Reserve Bank on the electoral bond scheme were ignored by the central government.

Why is there a controversy over this…

In 2017, while presenting this, Arun Jaitley had claimed that this will bring transparency in the funding of political parties and the election system. Black money will be curbed. On the other hand, those opposing it say that the identity of the person buying electoral bonds is not disclosed, due to which these can become a means of using black money in elections.

Some people allege that this scheme has been brought keeping in mind the big corporate houses. With this, these houses can donate as much as they want to political parties without revealing their identity.

Can Read Here: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman interview to Hindustan Times