Electoral bonds: A key poll plank for anti-BJP forces

The disclosure about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) earnings from electoral bonds is expected to fuel the opposition’s narrative against the ruling party and will be a key bone of contention in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, scheduled to begin from April 19. The funding mechanism of donations to political parties was introduced by the BJP in 2017, pitching it as a reform for making the electoral donation process transparent.
Notwithstanding the criticism of the scheme, the government asserted that it would allow donors to remain anonymous, thereby shielding them from vendetta by political parties that benefit from the donations, but do not want their opponents to benefit from the same scheme.
On Sunday, the Election Commission made public the second set of details about the funds that it received from the registry of the Supreme Court. The BJP emerged as the biggest beneficiary with ₹6,986.5 crore, the TMC in West Bengal received ₹1,397 crore, the Congress (in power in Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh) received ₹1,334 crore and BRS got ₹1,322 crore. The DMK, which is in power in Tamil Nadu, earned ₹509 crore from Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming.
Of the ₹16,492 crore electoral bonds that were redeemed between 1 March 2018 and 11 January 2024, the BJP redeemed 50% or ₹8,252 crore, the EC data showed.
In 2019, the party overcame the opposition’s allegations of failing to fulfil poll promises such as employment and economic revival. This time, although it is confident of meeting the target of ‘400 Paar’, the opposition has sharpened its attacks highlighting the BJP’s brimming coffers and the link between some of the donors and probes against them. It will have to be seen how the party drafts its rebuttal to the opposition’s charges and prevents an adverse impact on voter sentiment.
The BJP’s campaigns in 2014 and 2019 were pivoted on the anti-corruption plank and the promise of crackdown on graft and black money. Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is leading the 2024 campaign on his personal ‘guarantees’, instructed party workers to go to the masses with the report card of BJP good governance, clean administration and spotless political image of the PM.
The party expects to be questioned about accepting donations from Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited that has been under the radar of multiple agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax department for years.
Following the disclosures, BJP spokesperson RP Singh said, of the ₹20,000 crore-odd electoral bonds, only ₹6,000 crore has been given to the party while the opposition has benefitted from the rest.
The BJP’s ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which drums up support for the party, even as it distances itself from electoral politics, too has dubbed the funding mechanism as an “experiment”.
Sangh volunteers who campaign for 100% voter turnout and give issue-based support to the BJP will be expected to blunt the opposition’s criticism about the scheme. Addressing the media after the Sangh’s annual meeting, senior functionary Dattatreya Hosabale said electoral bonds were introduced with “cheques and balances”.
The opposition, meanwhile, is ready with its arsenal. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the BJP-led Union government has “conspired” to “route black money” into the ruling party’s accounts through the scheme and dubbed electoral bonds as the “biggest extortion racket” run by the central government.