An RTI (Right To Information) revealed that the Union finance ministry ordered the State Bank of India (SBI) to “immediately put a hold” on the printing of electoral bonds, almost a fortnight (February 28) after the Supreme Court of India termed the scheme as unconstitutional.
It is also learnt that the finance ministry had given final approval for the printing of 10000 electoral bonds each of Rs 1 crore, three days before the apex court’s order.
On February 15, the Supreme Court struck down the Union government’s 2018 electoral bonds scheme for anonymous political funding.
It ordered the State Bank of India (SBI), the only bank where the bonds could be purchased and redeemed, to submit all information regarding it on the election commission’s website.
Soon after the historic verdict, data regarding political party funding came forward with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) receiving a lion’s share (57%) far ahead of the Indian National Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
What does the RTI say?
A series of file notings of correspondence and emails exchanged between the Finance ministry and SBI obtained by The Indian Express under the RTI reveals the ministry gave orders to the SPMCIL (the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India) to shut down the printing, a fortnight after the Supreme Court’s judgement.
The instructions to stop the printing went out titled “Hold on Printing of Electoral Bonds — Electoral Bond Scheme 2018” dated February 28 from SBI to SPMCIL, the newspaper reported.
Writing to SPMCIL, SBI’s assistant general manager said, “We have acknowledged the receipt of 4 boxes of Security forms of Electoral Bonds containing a total 8,350 Bonds email dated 23.02.2024…. As in the light of judgment given by the Honourable Supreme Court, we request you to put a hold on the printing of the remaining 1,650 Electoral Bonds for which approval had been given via Budget Division Letter dated 12.01.2024.”
As many as 8,350 bonds were dispatched to the SBI.
The SPMCIL is a company under the ministry of finance responsible for the manufacture of security paper, minting of coins, printing of currency and bank notes, non-judicial stamp papers, postage stamps, travel documents, etc.
Lion’s share for BJP
According to data by the Election Commission of India (ECI), out of the 22,217 electoral bonds redeemed, the BJP received bonds worth Rs 8,451 crore, followed by the Indian National Congress at Rs 1,950 crore, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) at Rs 1,707 crore and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) at Rs 1,407 crore.
It also threw light on the method or pattern the BJP took to extort money from various corporates by threatening them with raids by central investigations agencies such as the ED (Enforcement Directorate), CBI, Income Tax department or sanctioning a government project or contract by getting money through electoral bonds.
Extortion by BJP, alleges Congress
Writing about the relation between electoral bonds and the BJP on X, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said that the saffron party received Rs 2004 crore from various major corporates. “In return, they got contracts/projects worth Rs 3.8 lakh crore from BJP’s central and state governments. ED, CBI, and IT raided 41 corporate groups. To avoid this, these groups donated Rs 2,592 crore to BJP. 16 shell companies donated Rs 419 crore to BJP. These also include companies which donated several times their total capital,” she said on X.
What is electoral bond scheme?
An electoral bond allows individuals, corporations or organisations to contribute or donate money to any political party anonymously by purchasing bonds from the SBI. According to the scheme, if the money donated is not encashed within 15 days, it will automatically be transferred to the Prime Minister Relief Fund.
