A day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) put up the data regarding donors of electoral bonds (EB) scheme, the Congress called the bonds a “scam and corruption of the highest order”.
Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh, in a statement on Friday, alleged that the data reveal “four corrupt tactics” of the BJP, which received ₹ 6,000 crores from over 1,300 companies and individuals since 2019.
In a separate on post on X, Mr. Ramesh urged the Finance Minister to furnish complete information on “who donated how much to which political party”. “It will put an end to the discussion once and for all,” he said.
Alleging quid pro quo, Mr. Ramesh said ,“There are many cases of companies that have donated electoral bonds, and immediately afterwards gotten huge benefits from the government: Megha Engineering & Infra has given over ₹800 crores in EBs. In April 2023, they donated ₹140 crores, and just one month later, they were awarded the ₹14,400-crore Thane-Borivali Twin Tunnel Project”.
Electoral bonds data
“Jindal Steel & Power gave ₹25 crores in EBs on 7 October 2022, and just 3 days later, they won the Gare Palma IV/6 coal mine, on 10th October 2022,” he added.
The Congress leader claimed that the data established a clear pattern that companies that faced raids by Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax (I-T) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) bought bonds in favour of the BJP soon after.
“The BJP’s Hafta Vasooli strategy is simple — raid a target through the ED/CBI/I-T, and then seek ‘hafta’ (donations) for the company’s protection. At least 14 of the top 30 donors have been raided,” Mr. Ramesh alleged.
“Earlier this year an investigation found that after ED/CBI/I-T raids, companies were forced to donate to the BJP via electoral trusts. Many of the same companies have donated through EBs, like Hetero Pharma and Yashoda Hospital. The I-T department raided Shirdi Sai Electricals in December 2023, and in January 2024, they donated ₹40 crores through Electoral Bonds,” he added.
Mr. Ramesh focused on Future Gaming and Hotels, that has emerged as one of the largest donors with ₹1,200 crore.
“Here is the chronology: 2nd April 2022, ED raids Future, and 5 days later (7th April) they donate ₹100 crores in EBs. October 2023: IT department raids Future, and the same month they donate ₹65 crores in EBs,” he said.
The Congress alleged that a clear pattern could be seen that “companies after receiving some handouts from the Central government, the favour has been relaid through electoral bonds”.
He mentioned Vendanta got the Radhikapur West private coal mine on March 3, 2021, and in April 2021, the company donated ₹ 25 crore in EBs. Similarly, Megha Engineering and Infra got the ₹4,500 crore Zojila tunnel project in August 2020, then donated ₹20 crore in EBs in October 2020. Similarly, Megha got the BKC bullet train station contract in December 2022, and donated ₹56 crore the same month.
The fourth point that the Congress leader raised pertained to money laundering through shell companies as the EBs scheme removed the restriction that only a small percentage of a company’s profits could be donated.
“There are many such suspicious cases, such as the ₹410 crore that has been donated by Qwik Supply Chain Limited, a company whose entire share capital is just ₹130 crores according to MoCA [Ministry of Corporate Affairs] filings,” he said.
The party also raised the issue of data on electoral bonds missing between March 2018 and April, 2019.
The correlation between the raids by Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, has been clearly established with the available data on Electoral Bonds, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said. “The entire picture will emerge when SBI supplies the alphanumeric code of the electoral bonds to help establish the contributor-recipient relationship,” he added. Mr. Yechury reiterated his party’s objection made on the floor of the Parliament, saying that the electoral bonds institutionalise corruption. “It is very clear that once they buy the electoral bonds, the investigations against them by the central agencies is suspended. This is nothing but a clear cut case of political extortion.
