The cross-matching of electoral bond data has perhaps exposed one of the biggest quid pro quo scams, uncovering the alleged money trail in awarding huge government contracts, both before and after receiving donations from corporate business houses. A report by Mudit Mathur
The cross-matching of electoral bond data has perhaps exposed one of the biggest quid pro quo scams in Independent India, indicting the Narendra Modi-led Union government of the BJP and regional parties-led state governments, exposing a ‘corporate-political nexus.’ This revelation uncovers the alleged money trail in awarding huge government contracts, both before and after receiving donations from corporate business houses.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Electoral Bond Scheme as unconstitutional, the Election Commission has finally made all data related to scrapped electoral bonds public on its website. The Court ruled that the scheme’s opacity violated voters’ right to information about political funding. It further directed both the Election Commission and the State Bank of India to release all previously concealed data.
Demanding an SIT investigation into the role of investigators in a joint press conference along with petitioner, Jagdeep Chhokar, Founder Member and Trustee of poll rights’ NGO, Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj and Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who appeared in the apex court on behalf of the petitioner, stressed that the electoral bonds data points to corporates purchasing bonds in return of “kickbacks”, which needs to be investigated to establish quid pro quo.
Bhushan also claimed that 41 companies that faced raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax Department, gave Rs 2,471 crore to the BJP, and Rs 1,698 crore was given after these raids, and Rs 121 crore was given in the three months immediately after the raids. In at least 49 cases, Bhushan alleged, Rs 62,000 crore in post-paid contracts/project approvals were given by the Centre or BJP-led state governments, for which Rs 580 crore in “kickbacks” in the form of electoral bonds were given to the BJP within a three-month span.
Bhushan claimed Kalpataru Group gave Rs 5.5 crore to the BJP within three months of an I-T Department raid on it on August 3 last year. “Future Gaming gave Rs 60 crore to the BJP within three months of I-T and ED raids on November 12, 2023, and December 1, 2021, respectively, “ he said.
“Aurobindo Pharma gave Rs 5 crore to the BJP within three months of the ED raid on November 10, 2022,” he added. Calling the electoral bonds scheme the biggest scam of independent India, Bhushan alleged four categories of corruption were done through it. The first is “Chanda Do, Dhanda Lo” (give donation and get business), the second is “Hafta-Vasuli” (extortion), the third is “Theka Lo, Rishwat Do” (bag contract, give bribe), and the fourth is “Farzi company,” (Shell Company).
Jagdeep Chhokar remarked that the data revealed after the Supreme Court verdict is ‘just the tip of the iceberg.’ He emphasized, “No one can deny the existence of the corporate-political nexus in the country after this verdict.”
RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj, also a petitioner in the case, demanded an independent probe into the matter. She urged, ‘Who will investigate the investigator? An independent SIT should be formed to investigate corruption through electoral bonds.
Senior Congress leader and MP Jairam Ramesh said that the electoral bonds are “pre-paid”, “post-paid” and “post-raid” bribes, through which the central government had given Rs.3.8 lakh crore in projects and contracts to private companies in exchange for Rs.2,004 crore in donations to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ramesh said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to shut shell companies within and outside the Parliament before 2014, but 16 shell companies donated Rs 419 crore to the BJP, out of total Rs.543 crore donated by shell companies, according to the recently released electoral bond data. “Rs 551 crore in donations were given to the BJP in exchange for Rs 1.32 lakh crores in contracts and project approvals that were provided by the Central or BJP state governments within three months after the donation,” Ramesh claimed, as evidence of both “pre-paid” and “post-paid” bribery.
