Supreme Court Decision on Electoral Bonds Won’t Impact Modi and BJP in Elections

Supreme Court Decision on Electoral Bonds Won’t Impact Modi and BJP in Elections

Electoral bonds are among the instruments of bribe that big corporates use to secretly fund political parties in quid pro quo deals. 

By Rakesh Raman

Despite the reluctance of the State Bank of India (SBI) to release the information, the Supreme Court today (March 11) directed it to provide data about donors and recipients of electoral bonds by March 12.

Electoral bonds are among the instruments of bribe that big corporates use to secretly fund political parties in quid pro quo deals. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi is the largest beneficiary of this clandestine corruption fund.

The ill-gotten money gives electoral advantage to political parties which use this money to bribe the voters and hire people who attend the political rallies of politicians and participate in Yatras (foot campaigns) that politicians organize to hoodwink the voters. 

No real voter may be interested to hear speeches of politicians in rallies, as most of them are uneducated, naive, or corrupt. Since electoral bonds were bringing corruption money in the electoral system, the top court ordered the SBI to release the information so that voters could have sufficient knowledge about the corruption of a party before they vote.

But SBI which is totally controlled by the Modi regime cannot take any decision that may displease Modi. That is why SBI was hesitant to release the electoral bonds data, while an old and obsolete lawyer tried to defend SBI’s delay tactics with his crude arguments made in a fumbling voice. 

The Supreme Court ordered SBI to release the electoral bonds data so that it should be available on the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI) by March 15.

However, the transparency on the issue of electoral bonds will not have any impact on Modi and BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, because it is largely believed that Modi and his party win most elections by manipulating electronic voting machines (EVMs). It is being predicted that BJP will win the Lok Sabha election comfortably with 400 seats in parliament.

Perhaps, the Supreme Court also knows this fact as it does not give any judgment that directly impacts Modi or BJP. For example, the top court succumbed and dishonestly protected the Modi regime in cases such as PM-CARES Fund case, Rafale corruption case, Article 370 in Kashmir case, Sri Lanka energy project case involving Adani Group, Modi-Adani collusion case, Sahara-Birla payoff case, Predator Drone deal, electronic voting machine (EVM) fraud case, and a number of other cases in which Modi’s party colleagues are allegedly involved. 

Now, even after the Supreme Court judgment, the money that BJP collected with electoral bonds will stay with it and the deferred judgment pronounced after almost five years of the date of petition will have no impact on BJP. So, it is only a deception by the Supreme Court to make a good-looking decision on electoral bonds and the gullible Indians are celebrating the judgment.

Research by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) shows that about 82% of the total income from unknown sources declared by national political parties in 2022-23 came from electoral bonds.

The ADR analysis – which is based on national parties’ audit reports and donation statements filed with the ECI – reveals that the sources of funds remain unknown.

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According to ADR, out of Rs. 1,832.88 crore as income from unknown sources, the share of income from electoral bonds was a whopping Rs. 1,510 crore or 82.42% for 2022-23.

The ADR study includes six national parties: BJP, Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI-M, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and National People’s Party (NPEP).

The study reveals that BJP declared the highest income from unknown sources among the national parties at Rs. 1,400 crore or 76.39% of the total amount. The Congress declared an amount of Rs. 315.11 crore (17.19%). In other words, BJP and Congress are the most corrupt parties in the context of electoral bonds.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.