BJP received Rs 5,271 crore through electoral bonds, Congress slams PM Modi

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has received donations worth more than Rs 5271 crore through electoral bonds between 2017-2011, which is three times more than the donations received by all other national parties, said the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in a report.

Calling the donations received by the BJP 'opaque', the Congress on Friday slammed PM Modi.

Addressing media, the Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that the electoral bonds scheme is nothing but a ‘money-whitening scheme.’ He said Modi government has ‘legitimised crony capitalism’.

“This effectively implies that Modi Govt’s controversial, corrupt and contrived – electoral bonds scheme is a ‘money whitening scheme’– which converts Black Money to White. It is a perfect way of legitimate, state-sponsored rent seeking and corruption,” said Khera.

“We believe that the Electoral Bond Scheme results in the financial monopoly of the ruling party on electoral funding – and is detrimental in creating a level-playing field, which is a prerequisite of a thriving Democracy. But Modi government has made ‘electoral bonds scheme’ a lovechild of corruption and crony capitalism,” added Khera.

Saying that the electoral bond scheme has resulted in the elimination of the cap on corporate giving, Khera recalled the “the opinion of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)" which "opposed the scheme".

Despite, it was introduced as the money bill by the then finance minister Arun Jaitley.

According to the ADR report, total donations declared by the seven national parties and 24 regional parties between 2017-2022 were Rs 13,190.68 crore (80% of total donations) and Rs 3,246.95 crore, respectively.

The Congress declared the second-highest donations from bonds at Rs 952.29 crore, followed by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), which declared Rs 767.88 crore.

Among the regional parties, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) received donations worth Rs 622 crore from electoral bonds. Tanil Nadu based, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) declared the second highest donations from bonds, at Rs 431.50 crore through electoral bonds.