Last Updated: 29 June 2024
Scandalous Allegations on BJP
a. Chanda do, dhanda lo - Give donation, Get business
b. Hafta-vasuli - Extortion via CBI/ED/IT department
c. Theka lo, rishwat do - Bag contract, Give bribe
Supreme Court scrapped the Electoral Bonds Scheme on 15 Feb 2024
Even ECI & RBI had objections to electoral bonds Amendments to People's Act due to unrestrained corporate funding
That these loss-making companies made such substantial donations indicates they could be acting as fronts for other firms or have misreported their profits and losses — raising the possibility of money laundering
- These companies had negative or near zero profit after tax in aggregate over 7 years, from 2016-17 to 2022-23
- The aggregate net losses of these 33 companies were over ₹1 lakh crore
These companies could also have acted as fronts for other companies or have misreported their profits and losses
- They had positive net profits in aggregate from 2016-17 to 2022-23
- But the amounts donated through EBs exceeded their aggregate net profit significantly
- These companies could also have acted as fronts for other companies or have misreported their profits and losses
- ₹1,698 crore of it was given after these raids
- ₹121 crore was given in 3 months immediately after the raids
- Contracts/project approvals worth Rs 62,000 crore were given by the Centre or BJP-led state governments
- Payment was donated within 3 months period
- Election Commission of India (ECI)'s primary concern against electoral bonds was their perceived negative impact on the transparency of political finance and funding for political parties
- ECI also criticised the amendment exempting political party donations received through electoral bonds from reporting under the Contribution Report
- ECI objected to the removal of a provision in the Companies Act that mandated companies to disclose details of the amounts contributed to specific political parties
- The ECI recommended reinstating the previous provision that imposed a cap on corporate funding, expressing concerns that unlimited corporate funding could lead to increased use of black money for political funding through shell companies
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised significant objections to the proposal
- Violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002: While the purchaser's identity was to be known due to the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement, the RBI highlighted that the identities of intervening persons/entities would remain undisclosed
- RBI cautioned against the misuse of bearer bonds by shell companies for money laundering transactions, as well as the risk of forgery and cross-border counterfeiting if issued in scrip form
- 28 January 2017: Sought comments from RBI
- 30 January 2017: RBI replied by expressing its severe apprehensions
- 1 February 2017: Introduced as part of The Finance Bill, 2017 during the Union Budget 2017-18 by then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
-- Amendments classified as a Money Bill, thus bypassed certain parliamentary scrutiny processes, allegedly a violation of Article 110 of Indian constitution
- May 2017: ECI raised objections on proposed amendments to the Ministry of Law and Justice
- 2 Jan 2028: Electoral Bonds scheme was notified
- 15 Feb 2024: Supreme Court scrapped the Electoral Bonds Scheme
- State Bank of India was asked to hand over details of donors and recipients to the Election Commission of India by March 6
- ECI was ordered to publish all details online by March 13 2024
Attempts to delay the release of Data
- 4 March 2024: SBI approached the top court with a plea seeking an extension until June 30 to disclose the details
- 11 March 2024: Supreme Court of India turned down SBI's request and gave 24hrs to hand over the data
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