Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday made a big claim on the electoral bonds issue. Vadra said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that 41 companies that are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax (I-T) Department donated Rs 2,592 crore to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) via the now-scrapped electoral funding scheme.
Vadra's charge came days after activists who challenged the electoral bonds scheme in the Supreme Court on Friday claimed that 41 companies under the ED, CBI and I-T Department scanner donated Rs 2,471 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds, and Rs 1,698 crore was donated after raids by the agencies.
They also claimed that Rs 121 crore was given in the three months immediately after the raids. "ED, CBI and IT raided 41 corporate groups. To avoid this, these groups donated Rs 2,592 crore to BJP. 16 shell companies donated Rs 419 crore to BJP. There also include companies which donated several times their total capital," Vadra said in her post.
She further claimed that 38 corporate groups donated Rs 2,004 crore to the BJP via electoral bonds. Vadra mentioned that the groups allegedly got contracts/projects worth Rs 3.8 lakh crore from the BJP's central and state governments in exchange of these donations.
"38 corporate groups donated Rs 2,004 crore to BJP through electoral bonds, in return they got contracts/projects worth Rs 3.8 lakh crore from BJP's central and state governments," she said.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioners in the Supreme Court, told the media that at least 30 shell companies purchased electoral bonds worth more than Rs 143 crore.
His allegation came after the Election Commission made the fresh set of data on electoral bonds public. "They have got a total of Rs 3.7 lakh crore in projects and contracts, in exchange for Rs 1,751 crore electoral bond donations to the BJP," news agency PTI quoted Bhushan as saying.
The senior advocate alleged that in at least 49 cases, Rs 62,000 crore in postpaid contracts/project approvals were given by the Centre or BJP-led state governments, for which Rs 580 crore in "kickbacks" in the form of electoral bonds were given to the BJP in 3 months.
He further claimed that Kalpataru Group gave Rs 5.5 crore to the ruling party within three months of an I-T Department raid on August 3, 2023.
"Future Gaming gave Rs 60 crore to the BJP within 3 months of I-T and ED raids on November 12, 2023 and December 1, 2021 respectively. Aurobindo Pharma gave Rs 5 crore to the BJP within 3 months of ED raid on November 10, 2022," Bhushan further alleged.
Last month, the Supreme Court in a landmark verdict scrapped the electoral bonds scheme. Calling the scheme "unconstitutional", the top court ordered the release of all details related to the bonds purchased and redeemed.