Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday, March 15, sought a high-level inquiry by the Supreme Court into the electoral bonds case. Addressing the media, he said that the bank accounts of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must be freezed until the inquiry is complete. The statement comes a day after the Election Commission of India made public details of electoral bonds provided by the State Bank of India.
“Bank accounts of Congress party have been frozen. Nearly Rs 300 crores have been frozen. How can we go for elections in such a situation? Our accounts are closed but their accounts are open. Where is the level playing ground? I demand an inquiry at the highest level into this. Unless the truth comes out, their accounts should also be frozen,” he said.
In a statement, he said that the data released by State Bank of India shows that BJP got nearly 50% donation out of the total electoral bonds money and that the principal opposition party, Indian National Congress, got only 11% of the total amount.
“There are many dubious donors. Who are these people? Which companies are these? Why have so many companies donated only after ED, IT and CBI raids? Who exerted the pressure on such companies? We demand the highest level of enquiry by the Hon’ble Supreme Court to investigate this saga of corruption by the BJP,” he added.
https://twitter.com/kharge/status/1768566551408762984
In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday, March 15, directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to release the unique identification numbers that will reveal who donated to which political parties. At present, it is only possible to know how much a company or individual donated and which parties received donations. These details are in two separate silos submitted by the SBI on March 12 after the SC’s landmark February 15 ruling that struck down the issuance of electoral bonds as unconstitutional.
The Election Commission, on Friday, March 14, released SBI’s data on electoral bonds in the form of two files, one containing names of “purchasers” of electoral bonds and the other containing names of the political parties that encashed the bonds.
It was found that India’s leading lottery company – Future Gaming and Hotel Services – headed by a controversial businessman is the top purchaser of electoral bonds. The Coimbatore-based company, headed by Martin Santiago, also known as ‘Lottery King’ Martin, bought 1,208 bonds worth Rs 1,208 crore.
Other large buyers include Hyderabad-based infrastructure giant Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited, a Reliance-linked company QwikSupply Chain, mining conglomerate Vedanta, a subsidiary of the Kolkata-based Sanjiv Goenka group, among others.