A day after Centre approved the issuance of the 28th tranche of electoral bonds, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday described the bonds as “legalised bribery” and claimed that the fresh tranche will be a “golden harvest” for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The electoral bonds will open for sale for 10 days beginning October 4, the union government announced on Friday. This comes ahead of the Assembly elections due in five states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Chidambaram wrote, “The 28th tranche of Electoral Bonds will open on October 4. It will be a golden harvest for the BJP.”
“Going by the past records, 90 per cent of the so-called anonymous donations will go to the BJP. The crony capitalists will open their cheque books to write out their ‘tribute’ to the lord and master in Delhi,” the former finance minister added.
“Electoral bonds are legalised bribery,” the Congress leader claimed.
Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding. Only the State Bank of India (SBI) is authorised to issue electoral bonds. It can be purchased by Indian citizens or entities incorporated or established in the country.
The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds took place in March 2018.
Registered political parties that have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the last Lok Sabha or legislative assembly elections are eligible to receive funding through electoral bonds.
On Tuesday, the Congress had alleged that the electoral bonds scheme is one of the most “diabolical acts” of the Narendra Modi government as it undermines the electoral system and democracy in the country.
Earlier, in July, a report by think tank Association for Democratic Reforms revealed that more than half of all donations received by political parties between 2016-17 and 2021-22 were through Electoral Bonds. The BJP received more funds than all other national parties put together, the report stated.
More than 52% of the BJP’s political donations, worth Rs 5,271.97 crore, came from electoral bonds as against Rs 1,783.93 crore amassed by all other national political parties, according to the report. Around 32 per cent of the donations to the BJP came from corporate houses.