Amit Shah reacts to electoral bonds verdict: ‘Fully respect order but…’
Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday reacted to the Supreme Court’s verdict on electoral bonds, saying that the scheme was an initiative to end the domination of black money in Indian politics. He said the scheme should have been improved rather than scrapped.
“Electoral bonds were introduced to end the influence of black money in Indian politics. Everyone has to accept the decision given by the Supreme Court. I fully respect the Supreme Court decision. But I feel that instead of completely scrapping the electoral bonds, it should have been improved,” Shah said at an interaction at the India Today Conclave.
In a landmark verdict delivered on February 15, a five-judge Constitution bench scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional”. It also ordered the State Bank of India (SBI) to disclose details on donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients.
On March 14, the Election Commission of India (ECI) uploaded the electoral bonds data a day before the deadline set by the Supreme Court in the high-profile case.
During Friday’s interaction, Shah said that there is a perception that the BJP benefitted from the electoral bonds scheme because it is in power.
“I want to make my stance clear about it. Out of the total ₹20,000 crore electoral bonds, the BJP has got approximately ₹6,000 crore. Where did the rest of the bonds go? TMC has got ₹1,600 crore, Congress got ₹1,400 crore, BRS got ₹1,200 crore, BJD got ₹750 crore and DMK got ₹639 crore,” Shah said.
He added: “We have got ₹6,000 crore despite having 303 MPs and the rest got ₹14,000 crore against 242 MPs. What is the hue and cry about? I can say that once the accounts are settled they will not be able to face you all,” he said.
Further, the home minister also pointed out that prior to the implementation of the electoral bonds, Opposition parties used to take political donations in cash.
Shah alleged that out of a donation of ₹1,100, they used to deposit ₹100 in the name of the party and keep ₹1,000 in their own pockets.
What electoral bonds scheme data shows?
The data shared by the State Bank of India shows that around 1,260 companies and individuals bought 22,217 bonds worth ₹12,155.51 crore between April 12, 2019 and February 15, 2024.
In this period, 20,421 bonds worth ₹12,769.09 crore were redeemed by 23 political parties, with the BJP leading the pack with a war chest of ₹6,061 crore (47.5% of total redeemed value), followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with ₹1,610 crore (12.6%) and Congress with ₹1,422 crore (11.1%).
Tamil Nadu-based Future Gaming and Hotel Services donated the biggest sum in these five years – ₹1368 crore. Andhra Pradesh-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited donated ₹891 crore, Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited donated ₹410 crore, Vedanta Limited donated ₹400 crore and Haldia Energy Limited donated ₹377 crore.
Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, DLF, PVR, Birlas, Bajajs, Jindals, Spicejet, IndiGo and the Goenkas were among the notable names who donated to the parties.