Electoral bonds data exposes BJP's 'corrupt tactics': Congress

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged, 'Hafta Vasooli: The BJP's Hafta Vasooli strategy is simple raid a target through the ED/CBI/IT, and then seek hafta ('donations') for the company's protection. At least 14 of the top 30 donors have been raided.'

New Delhi: Congress General Secretary (Communication) Jairam Ramesh on Friday claimed that the electoral bonds data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) exposed at least four "corrupt practices" of the ruling BJP, which included collecting donations before and after awarding contracts and the use of raids as a pretext for forcing corporates to pay.

He said the Congress will continue to demand unique bond ID numbers to precisely match donors to recipients. In a post on 'X', he said over 1,300 companies and individuals have donated electoral bonds, including over Rs 6,000 crore to the BJP since 2019.

In his "quick first analysis" of the data disclosure that the SBI put up after weeks of "attempting to postpone it until after the election", he said, "quid pro quo: There are many cases of companies that have donated electoral bonds, and immediately afterwards gotten huge benefits from the government."

He alleged Megha Engineering & Infra had given over Rs 800 crore in electoral bonds and in April 2023, they donated Rs 140 crore, and just one month later, they were awarded the Rs 14,400 crore Thane-Borivali Twin Tunnel Project.

He also cited the instance of Jindal Steel & Power buying Rs 25 crore worth of electoral bonds on October 7, 2022, and just three days later, they won the Gare Palma IV/6 coal block auction on October 10, 2022.

"Hafta Vasooli (extortion): The BJP’s Hafta Vasooli strategy is simple -- raid a target through the ED/CBI/IT, and then seek 'hafta' (“donations”) for the company’s protection. At least 14 of the top 30 donors have been raided," he said.

"Earlier this year an investigation found that after ED/CBI/IT raids, companies were forced to donate to the BJP via electoral trusts. Many of the same companies have donated through EBs, like Hetero Pharma and Yashoda Hospital," he said.

He claimed that the Shirdi Sai Electricals donated Rs 40 crore in January this year, a month after the Income Tax Department conducted searches at its premises. "Future Gaming and Hotels has donated over Rs 1,200 crore, making it the largest donor in the data so far. Here is the chronology: 2 April 2022: ED raids Future, and five days later (7th April) they donate Rs 100 crore in electoral bonds. October 2023: IT department raids Future, and the same month they donate Rs 65 crore in EBs," he alleged.

Ramesh also claimed that a pattern of "kickbacks" emerges from the data, where immediately after receiving some handouts from the Union government, companies have repaid the favour through electoral bonds.

"Vedanta got the Radhikapur West private coal mine on 3rd March 2021, and then in April 2021, they donated Rs 25 crore in electoral bonds. Megha Engineering & Infra got the Rs 4,500 crore Zojila tunnel project in August 2020, then donated Rs 20 crore in electoral Bonds in October 2020. Megha got the BKC bullet train station contract in December 2022, and donated Rs 56 crore the same month," he added.

He also claimed that one of the huge issues with the electoral bonds scheme is "money laundering through shell companies". He said the scheme had removed the restriction that only a small percentage of a company’s profits could be donated, paving the way for shell companies to donate black money.

"There are many such suspicious cases, such as the Rs 410 crore that has been donated by Qwik Supply Chain Limited, a company whose entire share capital is just Rs. 130 crores according to MoCA filings," he added.