Electoral bonds data exposed corrupt tactics of BJP, says Jairam Ramesh

Over 1,300 companies and individuals have donated electoral bonds, says Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

After the Election Commission released electoral bonds data on March 14, the Congress alleged that it exposed "corrupt tactics" of the BJP such as quid pro quo, kickbacks and money laundering through shell companies.

In a post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh put out a "quick first analysis" of the SBI data disclosure weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.  “Over 1,300 companies and individuals have donated electoral bonds, including over 6,000 crores to the BJP since 2019 So far, the electoral bonds data exposes at least 4 corrupt tactics of the BJP,” he said.

Here’s a quick first analysis of the Electoral Bonds data disclosure that the SBI put up last night, after weeks of attempting to postpone it until after the election:

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•Over 1,300 companies and individuals have donated electoral bonds, including over 6,000 crores to the BJP…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 15, 2024

"Quid Pro Quo: There are many cases of companies that have donated electoral bonds, and immediately afterwards gotten huge benefits from the government: Megha Engineering & Infra has given over Rs. 800 crores in EBs. In April 2023, they donated Rs. 140 crore, and just one month later, they were awarded the Rs. 14,400 crore Thane-Borivali Twin Tunnel Project," he alleged.

He claimed Jindal Steel and Power gave Rs. 25 crore in EBs on 7 October 2022, and just three days later, they won the Gare Palma IV/6 coal mine, on 10th October 2022.

"Hafta Vasooli: The BJP's Hafta Vasooli strategy is simple raid a target through the ED/CBI/IT, and then seek hafta ("donations") for the company's protection. At least 14 of the top 30 donors have been raided," he alleged.

According to him, an investigation found that after ED/CBI/IT raids, companies were forced to donate to the BJP via electoral trusts. Ramesh also alleged that the data also points to kickbacks “as a pattern emerges where immediately after receiving some handouts from the Central government, companies have repaid the favour through electoral bonds”.

“Vedanta got the Radhikapur West private coal mine on 3rd March 2021, and then in April 2021, they donated Rs. 25 crore in Electoral Bonds,” he said.

Ramesh alleged that data also shows there has been money laundering through shell companies.  “One huge issue with the electoral bonds scheme is that it removed the restriction that only a small percentage of a company’s profits could be donated, paving the way for shell companies to donate black money. There are many such suspicious cases, such as the Rs. 410 crore that has been donated by Qwik Supply Chain Limited, a company whose entire share capital is just Rs. 130 crores according to MoCA filings,” he said.

The senior Congress leader said the missing data is also another major issue.  “The data provided by SBI only begins in April 2019, but SBI sold the first tranche of bonds in March 2018. A total of Rs. 2,500 crores in bonds are missing from this data. Where is the data of these missing bonds, from March 2018 to April 2019? For instance, in the very first tranche of bonds, the BJP bagged 95% of the funds. Who is the BJP trying to protect,” he said.