New Delhi: The Congress party has alleged that the electoral bond scheme is designed to favour the ruling party and demanded a transparent system for electoral funding.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera highlighted a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms, revealing that over 52% of the BJP's political donations, amounting to Rs 5,271.97 crore, between FY 2016-17 and FY 2021-22 came from electoral bonds, compared to Rs 1,783.93 crore received by other national parties.
Khera held a press conference and said, "This effectively implies that the Modi government's controversial, corrupt, and contrived electoral bonds scheme is a money whitening scheme, which converts black money to white." He further alleged that the BJP is now associated with "cash, crony capitalism, and corruption."
The Congress party advocates for a transparent system of electoral funding and has vowed to expose the corporate money greed of the Modi government and the BJP. Khera referred to the Congress's 2019 Lok Sabha manifesto and the 85th Plenary Session in Raipur, where they pledged to scrap the "opaque" electoral bond scheme, which they claim favours the ruling party. Instead, Congress proposes the establishment of a national election fund, allowing contributions from any person, with the funds allocated to recognized political parties during elections based on criteria defined by law.
According to Khera, the electoral bond scheme results in the ruling party's financial monopoly on electoral funding, hindering the creation of a level-playing field necessary for a thriving democracy. He accused the Modi government of destroying democracy, discarding transparency, and demolishing electoral practices.
He also raised concerns about the electoral bonds scheme placing an uneven burden on impartial implementing institutions like the State Bank of India (SBI), which may succumb to political pressures. He also criticised the lack of transparency, as citizens are not provided with donor details, while the government can access the data through the SBI. "This implies that the only people in the dark about the source of these donations are the taxpayers," Khera emphasised.