National News

What Congress And Its Propagandist Like Sumanth Raman Won’t Tell You About Electoral Bonds

February 15, 2024
The Commune

On 15 February 2024, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited verdict on the electoral bonds case, declaring that anonymous electoral bonds infringe upon the right to information as outlined in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Consequently, the scheme has been deemed unconstitutional and has been invalidated.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote after the verdict was pronounced, “Another proof of Narendra Modi’s corrupt policies is in front of you. BJP had made electoral bonds a medium for taking bribe and commission. Today this matter has been approved.”

Neutral but pro-Congressi commentator Sumanth Raman found himself in a foot-in-mouth situation when he simped for the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, yet again over the recent ruling on electoral bonds. 

Sumanth Raman wrote on his X handle, “Huge setback for Govt. Not only has the SC said that Electoral Bonds scheme is unconsituitional, it has also asked for details of bonds sold since April 2019 to be put out by the Election Commission on its website by 13th March 2024.”

While the Congressis and their propagandists were painting a picture as if it was the BJP was the one that would suffer because of this verdict, the reality is far different. 

What Congress & Its Propagandists Won’t Tell You

While on the surface it may seem like a setback for the ruling party, in reality, it is the opposition parties that have more problems in handling this. As per ADR reports, parties other than the BJP have been relying more on electoral bonds for their donations. Here is a break up of the percentage of donations that parties received through electoral bonds for the 6 years – 2016/17 to 2021/22:

  • BJP – 52% (5271.9751 cr)
  • Congress – 61.54% (952.2955 cr) 
  • TMC – 93.27% ( 767.8876 cr)
  • DMK – 90.703% (431.50 cr)
  • BJD – 89.81% (Rs 622 cr.)
  • TRS – 80.45% ( Rs 383.6529 cr)
  • YSRCP – 72.43% ( Rs 330.44 cr )

For the years 2021-22, the percentage of donations received through electoral bonds along with donations in cash below Rs. 20,000, etc. are as below:

  • TMC – 96.77%
  • Congress – 71.84%
  • BJP – 60.56%

DMK which was not in power until 2021 received the second-highest amount in electoral bonds. Furthermore, a noteworthy detail is that 90% of the total donations received by the DMK are attributed to electoral bonds.

Those propagandists reacting enthusiastically to the verdict as if these bonds were equivalent to illegal money fail to comprehend that electoral bonds are legitimate funds directed towards political parties.

The Supreme Court has asked the State Bank Of India to stop the issue of the bonds and provide comprehensive details on electoral bonds purchased from the court’s interim order on 12 April 2019, until the present date to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The court also mandated that the information should include the purchase date, purchaser’s name, and bond denomination. Additionally, the court instructed SBI to furnish details on political parties that have received contributions through electoral bonds within the same time frame, specifying the date of encashment and the denomination of each bond. This information has to be submitted by the SBI to the ECI by 6 March 2024. The ECI, in turn, is obligated to publish the received data on its website by 13 March 2024. 

Once these details are made public, it will be interesting to see who donated how much and to whom.

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