The Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) has selected Project Electoral Bond, a joint effort by Newslaundry, The News Minute, and Scroll, as one of the best investigative stories from India in 2024.
The Supreme Court order striking down the Electoral Bonds scheme and directing the Union government to divulge information about it had unlocked “a treasure trove of reporting on potentially unethical and illegal acts by the ruling government”, the network said.
Newslaundry, The News Minute, Scroll and several independent journalists collaborated to work on investigative reports such as how Bharti group’s Rs 150 crore bond donation to BJP coincided with the union government’s telecom u-turn, ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin’s donations to multiple political parties, donations by Adani-linked companies to the BJP, Aditya Birla group’s donation to BJP ahead of the union government’s Vodafone Idea bailout, among others.
You can read all the stories here.
GIJN stated that the collaboration – the first reporting consortium of its kind in India – produced dozens of investigative stories exposing the unholy alliance between the government, the Election Commission, and big business houses of India.
“This puzzle of electoral donations and underlying corruption could not have been exposed in such a short time without the round-the-clock work of some 31 reporters. Each of the investigative stories, which were jointly published on each of the three main sites, exposed the powerful reach of some of the biggest businesses on political parties in India,” GIJN wrote, adding that more than 40 stories were published based on documents and other evidence about vast donations to political parties within 20 days.
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