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Amit Shah On Electoral Bonds: Defending the electoral bonds scheme, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday defended the electoral bonds scheme that was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, saying that ‘it was an initiative to end the domination of black money in Indian politics.’
He, however, added that he respects the Supreme Court’s verdict.
Amit Shah made these observations while speaking at the India Today Conclave 2024 where he said that he ‘fears that the black money will return with the scrapping of electoral bonds’.
“Electoral Bonds was brought to end the domination of black money in Indian politics, it was brought to eradicate black money. Now the scheme has been scrapped and I fear the return of black money,” Shah said adding that there should be reforms regarding the electoral bonds, rather than scrapping it.
“I believe that rather than scrapping it, there should be reforms, but it does not hold any significance, as the apex court has given its verdict and I respect that,” he added.
Shah further said that there was no room for secrecy after the electoral bonds scheme was implemented, as the amount was reflected in the bank accounts of both the parties and the donors.
Pointing out that before the electoral bond scheme was implemented, donations to parties were made through cash. After the scheme was implemented, companies or individuals had to submit a check to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to purchase the bond for donation to parties.
“There is a perception that the BJP benefitted from the electoral bonds scheme because it is in power. Rahul Gandhi also said it is the biggest extortion racket in the world. Don’t know who writes these things for him? The BJP received around Rs 6,000 crore through electoral bonds. The total bonds (of all parties) amounted to Rs 20,000 crore. So where did the bond for the Rs 14,000 go?” asked Amit Shah as he said that the amount the opposition parties received is disproportionate to the number of seats they have in the Lok Sabha and the number of party members.
“The Trinamool Congress encashed bonds worth Rs 1,600 crore, Congress received Rs 1,400 crore, Bharat Rashtra Samithi received Rs 1,200 crore, BJD received Rs 775 crore and DMK received Rs 649 crore. When donations were made through cash transactions, Congress deposits Rs 100 in the party and keeps Rs 1,000 in their homes and it continued for a long period of time,” he added.
According to the reports, the biggest beneficiaries of the scheme include the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Shiv Sena, YSR Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Jana Sena Party.
(With ANI inputs)
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