Abhishek Manu Singhvi. (File)HAILING THE Supreme Court direction to political parties to provide details of donations received in electoral bonds and the identity of the donors to the Election Commission in a sealed cover by May 30, the Congress on Friday said the apex court ruling is a setback to the ruling BJP as electoral bonds had become electoral corruption of the BJP.
The Congress said 95 per cent of the electoral bonds had gone to the BJP and argued “financial dominance” of a single party decimates the very concept of a level playing field which is at the heart of free and fair elections. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi asked the BJP to reveal its “murky flood of money” received through such bonds and predicted that the flow of money to the BJP will now suddenly dry up.
“Let me make a prediction, I am sticking my neck out…The Supreme Court has now said that whatever has been given till now, you will have to give the names in a sealed cover. The Supreme Court has said that what will be given from now till May, you will also have to give the names in a sealed cover. Let me predict between now and May these donations will dry up.”
“These great anonymous names who are donating only to one party… suddenly their generosity will vanish, because now there is a possibility that the sealed cover will be opened in May. The crux of this design of Modi, by Modi and for Modi was to facilitate anonymity, to keep names secret, to receive monies without names being known…. and what benefit those names get also remains anonymous,” he added.
Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi took a swipe at the BJP and said the judgment would bring out the “nexus” between the ruling party and its “suited-booted friends”. She said the BJP, which came to power on the back of promises such as bringing in transparency in the system, has done nothing towards it.
