Congress attacks BJP over electoral bonds, demands ban on scheme

Congress on Tuesday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleging that the ruling party has misled the Parliament on the issue of electoral bonds.

"BJP has bulldozed the objection of the Election Commission (over electoral bonds). It has failed to address the concerns by the Commission. BJP has gone so far to cover up their steps and errors in the Parliament and they are willfully and deliberately misleading the Parliament," Congress spokesperson Gaurav Gogoi said while addressing a media briefing here.

The Congress leader claimed that the Election Commission had raised objections to the Law Ministry regarding electoral bonds in 2017. "Later, it was sent to the Department of Financial Affairs where the departments could not give satisfactory answers to it," he said.

He demanded that the scheme of electoral bonds should be banned.

"This scheme is a big scam; Congress demands that it should be banned. The BJP government should disclose the names of those who donated under the electoral bond as they have received most of the donations. Has any action been taken against these companies?" Gogoi asked.

Electoral bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. A person being an individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.

Only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the state shall be eligible to receive the electoral bonds.

The bonds shall be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank.