The BJP-led Indian government has violated official rules on the eve of the 2018 Karnataka assembly elections to enable the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) to cash in on expired electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore, according to a report by The Reporters’ Collective, a group of like-minded Indian journalists.
The latest revelations from the Election Com-mission of India (ECI) indicate that the finance ministry, under the late ArunJaitley, pressured the State Bank of India (SBI) to accept electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore, despite their expiration. Members of the BJP reportedly visited the bank to facilitate the encashment of these expired bonds.
In a previous report in 2019, The Reporters’ Collective highlighted that the SBI allowed an unidentified political party to cash electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore, two days after the legally man-dated 15-day encashment period had ended. How-ever, it remained unclear which political party had benefitted from the ministry’s directive to the SBI.
The recent disclosures from the BJP, made public by the ECI, reveal that the finance ministry issued an unlawful order to the government-owned bank, directing it to allow the BJP to encashRs 10 crore worth of expired bonds.
Significantly, these bonds were purchased during an additional sale window, requested by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), despite such additional windows not being permitted in the regulations set by New Delhi.
According to The Reporters’ Collective, this action also contravened the electoral bonds order, as the regulations established in January 2018 outlined four 10-day windows for bond sales in January, April, July, and October. However, an extra “special” 10-day window was opened before the Karnataka elections, and similarly, before the Gujarat state elections in December 2022.
The BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) has emerged as the largest beneficiary of the opaque funding mechanism, having received Rs 8,251.8 crore through the scheme, out of the total bonds sold worth approximately Rs 16,518 crore. This indicates that the BJP redeemed nearly 50% of all bonds sold.
While the Congress party ranks second in bond redemption, with Rs 1,952 crore worth of bonds, the Trinamool Congress closely follows with Rs 1,705 crore.—INP
