Allegations of rigging in electoral bonds entry, Congress claims - more takers than donors
Electoral Bond: In the data made public by the Election Commission, the names of those who bought bonds and those who redeemed these bonds are there, but it is not known who gave this money to which party?
On Thursday, the Election Commission released the electoral bond figures to the public. Congress has expressed concerns about these numbers as well as purported anomalies in the electoral bond entry process. Amitabh Dubey, the leader of the Congress party, claimed that there are anomalies in the way parties receive donations and donors enter the country. Following Amitabh Dubey's assertion, numerous other Congressmen questioned the numbers and asked the Election Commission and SBI Bank for clarification.
Amitabh Dubey, in charge of the Research and Monitoring Branch of the Congress' Communication Department, shared a post on social media. In this post, the Congress leader wrote that 'The Electoral Bond Scheme was started in the year 2017, but the figures presented are from April 2019. In the data, there are 18,871 entries of donors, while the number of entries of those taking donations is 20,421. State Bank of India and Election Commission, why is this irregularity?
Congress leader Manikam Tagore has also re-posted this post of Amitabh Dubey and raised questions on the entry error. Manikam Tagore wrote in the post that I do not think this is a coincidence.
In the data made public by the Election Commission, the names of those who bought bonds and those who redeemed these bonds are there, but it is not known who gave this money to which party? ADR lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who filed the petition against electoral bonds, has also raised this point. ADR can again go to the Supreme Court regarding this issue.
On Thursday, the Election Commission opened up the electoral bond data on its website. The publicly available data spans the dates April 12, 2019 through January 11, 2024. Future Gaming and Hotel Service Private Limited, the company of Lottery King Santiago Martin, has donated the maximum amount of Rs 1368 crore, according to the list. The companies that purchased the most expensive electoral bonds were Future Gaming Company, Quick Supply Chain, Vedanta Limited, Haldia Energy, Bharti Group, Essel Mining, West UP Power Corporation, Keventer Food Park, and Madanlal Limited. The maximum donation made through electoral bonds to the BJP was Rs 6,060 crore. After BJP, TMC received donations of Rs 1609 crore, Congress Rs 1421 crore, BRS Rs 1214 crore, BJD Rs 775 crore and DMK received Rs 639 crore.
