Mumbai: On November 20 Congress express their concern over electoral bond calling it a “Political Extortion” and demanded an immediate statement from the government in both houses of the Parliament on the bond issue.
Speaking at a conference the Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “To issue electoral bond scheme was a conspiracy. It was based on the premise that the donor who gives money need not disclose his identity. The political party is also not liable to disclose the identity of the donor.”
Further, he blamed the reserve bank of India and said, “This was opposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which has stated that this scheme will lead to the encouragement of money laundering.”
While criticizing the electoral bond scheme the Congress leader said, “In this scheme, it is not disclosed who gives fund to a political party. The money could be donated from a fraudster or even a terrorist.”
“The Election Commission has stated that this scheme will end the transparency of the donations. It will lead to an increase in the use of black money by political parties through shell companies,” Azad added.
Referring to reports that claimed that the Finance Ministry has opened additional payment windows on the PMO’s directions, he said the bond scheme allowed the donor, who bought them, to hide his identity. He described the bond as a political bribery scheme. Congress alleged that the bonds were “bribery bonds” that resulted in money laundering and destroyed the transparency of funding of political parties. Only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the state shall be eligible to receive the electoral bonds.
Asked if there would be a demand for a joint parliamentary committee, Mr Azad said, “First let’s see what the government come up with and then we will decide.” The bonds shall be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank he further added.
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