New Delhi, 15 February (HS): Expressing happiness over the Supreme Court declaring electoral bonds unconstitutional, the Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of extortion.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said during a press conference held at the party headquarters on Thursday that BJP has received ?5200 crore from ‘electoral bonds’. The country should be told who gave this money. The Congress party demanded that the SBI should put all the information in the public domain, so that the public could know who gave how much money.
Khera said that the ‘Electoral Bond’ scheme was brought by the Modi government as a ‘Money Bill’, so that it could not be discussed in the Rajya Sabha. In such a situation, “we fear that another ordinance may be issued again and the Modi government may be saved by this decision of the Supreme Court”.
The Electoral Bond Scheme is a case of corruption, in which the Prime Minister is directly involved. Electoral bonds were imposed on the country despite opposition from officials of the Election Commission, Finance Ministry and Law Ministry, the Congress party added.
The Supreme Court has held that the Electoral Bond Scheme is violating the laws passed by the Parliament as well as the Constitution of India. Ever since the electoral bond was introduced in 2017, Congress has been strongly opposing it. This process is opaque and promotes corruption.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court has declared electoral bonds unconstitutional. A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that State Bank of India should give information about donations received by all parties to the Election Commission by March 6. The Election Commission should publish this information on its website by March 13. The political parties should return the bonds which have not yet been encashed to the bank.
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