41 firms donated ₹2,471 crore to BJP under SBI electoral bonds scheme, now facing probe by CBI, ED, and IT department.
Forty-one firms which donated ₹2,471 crore to the BJP under the SBI electoral bonds scheme are facing probe by government agencies like the Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (IT) department. Moreover, most of the amount, nearly ₹1,698 crore was donated to the BJP after raids by these agencies, claimed civil society activists who challenged the poll funding scheme in the Supreme Court on Friday.
Under the unconstitutional SBI electoral bonds scheme, at least 30 shell companies purchased electoral bonds worth over ₹143 crore, said senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioners in the court.
He said 33 groups which have 172 major contracts and project approvals from the government also made donations through electoral bonds.
"They have got a total of ₹3.7 lakh crore in projects and contracts, in exchange for ₹1,751 crore electoral bond donations to the BJP," he alleged.
'Four categories of corruption through SBI electoral bonds scheme'
The senior advocate Prashant Bhushan claimed the SBI electoral bonds scheme to be one of the biggest scams of Independent India. Alleging that the scheme prevailed in four categories of corruption, Prashant Bhushan said, “The first is Chanda do, Dhanda lo (give donation and get business), the second is hafta-vasuli (extortion), the third is the lo, rishwat do (bag contract, give bribe), and for company."
He also alleged that the centre or BJP-led state governments gave ₹62,000 crore in postpaid contracts/project approvals. In return for the approval, the party received 580 crore in "kickbacks" in the form of electoral bonds within three months, alleged Bhushan.
He claimed that Kalpataru Group gave ₹5.5 crore to the saffron party within three months of an IT department raid in August last year.
"Future Gaming gave ₹60 crore to the BJP within three months of I-T and ED raids on November 12, 2023 and December 1, 2021, respectively. Aurobindo Pharma gave ₹5 crore to the BJP within three months of the ED raid on November 10, 2022," he added.
SBI electoral bonds data ‘just tip of the iceberg’
Calling the SBI electoral bonds data released after the Supreme Court verdict as “just tip of the iceberg", petitioner Jagdeep Chhokar, Founder Member and Trustee of poll rights NGO Association of Democratic Reforms, said, “No one can say after the verdict that the corporate-political nexus does not exist in the country."
Many petitioners in the case, including RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj, demanded an independent inquiry into the matter. "Who will investigate the investigator? An independent SIT should for formed to look into the corruption through electoral bonds," she said.
