In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on electoral bonds, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday that the programme was an attempt to reduce the dominance of black money in Indian politics. He added that rather than being abandoned, the plan ought to have been enhanced.
“Electoral bonds were introduced to end the influence of black money in Indian politics. Everyone has to accept the decision given by the Supreme Court. I fully respect the Supreme Court decision. But I feel that instead of completely scrapping the electoral bonds, it should have been improved,” Shah said at an interaction at the Conclave.
A five-judge Constitution panel struck down the Center’s electoral bonds programme, which permitted anonymous political finance, in a historic decision rendered on February 15, declaring it to be “unconstitutional”. Additionally, it mandated that the State Bank of India (SBI) reveal information on donors, the sums they contributed, and the beneficiaries.
The data on electoral bonds was posted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 14, one day ahead of the date stipulated by the Supreme Court in the well-known case.
In the conversation on Friday, Shah mentioned that there is a belief that the BJP benefited from the electoral bonds programme as it is currently in power.
“I want to make my stance clear about it. Out of the total ₹20,000 crore electoral bonds, the BJP has got approximately ₹6,000 crore. Where did the rest of the bonds go? TMC has got ₹1,600 crore, Congress got ₹1,400 crore, BRS got ₹1,200 crore, BJD got ₹750 crore and DMK got ₹639 crore,” Shah said.
He added: “We have got ₹6,000 crore despite having 303 MPs and the rest got ₹14,000 crore against 242 MPs. What is the hue and cry about? I can say that once the accounts are settled they will not be able to face you all,” he said.
The home minister also made note of the fact that opposition parties used to accept cash contributions for political campaigns before the electoral bonds were put into place.
Shah claimed that they used to deposit ₹100 in the party’s name and retain ₹1,000 for themselves out of a ₹1,100 donation.
According to information released by the State Bank of India, between April 12, 2019 and February 15, 2024, about 1,260 businesses and individuals purchased 22,217 bonds for ₹12,155.51 crore.
23 political parties redeemed 20,421 bonds totaling ₹12,769.09 crore during this time, with the BJP leading the way with a war chest of ₹6,061 crore (47.5% of the total redeemed value), followed by the Congress with ₹1,422 crore (11.1%) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with ₹1,610 crore (12.6%).
Future Gaming and Hotel Services, situated in Tamil Nadu, made the largest donation during the five years, totaling ₹1368 crore. Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited, situated in Andhra Pradesh, contributed ₹891 crore, Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited, Vedanta Limited, and Haldia Energy Limited contributed ₹410 crore, and ₹377 crore.
Prominent figures who contributed to the parties included steel mogul Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, DLF, PVR, Birlas, Bajajs, Jindals, Spicejet, IndiGo, and the Goenkas.
