The BJP was quite protective about their little master stroke called “Electoral Bonds.” The Congress had been corrupt for years and had been dealing in a lot of black money during their era. The BJP wanted to do something different so they continued to be corrupt legally.
Earlier, there was a cap of 7.5% of a company’s profits that could be donated to political parties. Now there does not seem to be such a cap. Crores are flowing in without any clue as to how these loss-making companies are donating these huge numbers.
The BJP received the lion’s share of 6,060 crores, i.e., 47.5% of the total amount of 12,769 crores. 1,421 crores went to Congress, 1,609 crores to TMC, and so on.
The parties that did not accept electoral bonds were CPI (Communist Party of India), CPI M, All India Forward Bloc, and CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation.
The companies that were being investigated by the ED, CBI, or income tax later ended up donating crores to the parties. The companies that were given contracts by the government also donated crores to the government.
Electoral bonds were introduced in 2017, and the Supreme Court rendered them unconstitutional on February 15, 2024. Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked SBI to release all the data revealing who donated how much to the parties.
A petition was filed by the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), and the Common Cause India NGO, represented by senior Supreme Court lawyers Prashant Bhushan, Kapil Sibal, Nizam Pasha, and others in September 2017.
In simple terms, you are giving money to the government in the form of taxes; the government gives those to companies as contracts, and they donate them again to the government via bonds.
Factors to be worried about.
Megha Engineering is the second-highest donor. They and their associated firms purchased a total of 1200 crores. It receives most of the government projects in India. There was fraud in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), which was a project given to them by the Telangana government. NGT had not given an environmental clearance for this project. The Zojila tunnel project, which connects Sonamarg and Drass town in Kargil district, is worth 45 billion. In 2023, it also got a 500 crore order from the government for defense and a 14,400 crore order for the Thane-Borivali twin tunnel project in Mumbai.
Navayuga Engineering Construction Limited donated 55 crores to the BJP. Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand, A portion of the tunnel collapsed on November 12, 2023. 41 workers were trapped and later rescued after 16 days.
Ranjit Buildcom donated 90 million. An under-construction flyover in Mumatpura, Ahmedabad, collapsed on December 21, 2022. There was a compromise on the quality of the concrete. This was the third incident with the same company.
BG Shirke Construction Technology Pvt. Ltd. donated Rs 1.18 billion (85 crore) to the Shiv Sena and Rs 30 crore to the BJP. There was an FIR on this company for death by negligence. Four workers died and two were injured in an elevator crash in a housing society. In another accident at the DDA construction site, four men died as they fell from a tower crane, claiming the “lock may have slipped.”
Vedanta Limited, a mining company, donated 457 crores. It has violated forest laws and tribal rights in Orissa’s Kalahandi district. There were reports of increased poverty and land pollution.
1000 crores of electoral bonds were purchased in total by pharmaceutical companies. Seven out of these were under investigation for the quality of their medicines.
In April 2022, Hetero Labs and Hetero Healthcare bought electoral bonds worth Rs 40 crore after they were issued notices for substandard (below the usual or required standard) drugs by Maharashtra Food and Drugs. Three of those notices were related to Remdesivir, which was used during the COVID period and could make a lot of money over it. The company just recalled the batch, and its license was allowed to continue.
Torrent Pharma bought a total of 77.5 crore. This company’s medicine, Deplatt-150, failed the salicylic acid test. The United States Food and Drug Administration in 2019 also issued a warning notice to them for repeated quality issues with the medications, but no action was taken.
28 crore was purchased by Zydus Healthcare. Several patients reported adverse effects from a batch of remdivir. No action was taken.
Glenmark purchased 9.75 crore of bonds after five notices were issued to them for substandard medicines.
Cipla purchased 39.2 crores of bonds after four showcase notices were issued to them.
IPCA Laboratories Limited 13.5 crore after its medicine Lariago was found substandard.
Intas Pharmaceutical donated Rs 20 crore after Enapril-5 failed the dissolution test.
After getting arrested for a liquor scam, Aurobindo Pharma’s director, Sarath Chandra Reddy, donated Rs 5 crore to the BJP via electoral bonds, after which he was released on bail. After bail, he donated 50 crores to the BJP. Kejriwal was arrested based on Sarath Chandra’s statement.
Talking about the people who donate to certain parties based on religion and encourage killing in the name of beef. The Allana Group deals in exporting processed food, especially meat. 5 crores worth of electoral bonds to Shiv Sena and 1 crore to the BJP In April 2019, there was a raid on the Allana Group as they owed Rs. 2000 crore in tax, and by October 2019, they had purchased electoral bonds.
Once the unique bond data was published by the ECI, it was revealed that Qwik Supply Chain donated a total of Rs 375 crore to the BJP. It is a Reliance-backed shell company. 25 crores to Shiv Sena and 10 crores to NCP
These are cases of extortion and corruption which was done blatantly. Political parties grow rich, and people remain fools defending them.
