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.
