'Legalised bribery': Congress slams electoral bonds scheme after data made public

P Chidambaram. File pic

With the electoral bonds data put out in public domain, senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the scheme was introduced to "legalise bribery" and to ensure that the ruling party is the biggest beneficiary. Chidambaram's remarks came a day after the Election Commission put up the data on electoral bonds on its website.

Talking at a conclave organised by a media house, Chidambaram also said that, "Elections are a festival of democracy and must have lot of rhetoric, song dance, speeches etc. They have restricted everything. Allow larger limit of expenditure for candidates. Nobody can fight and win an election on these ridiculously low amounts," he said. "Instead of a multi-pronged approach, electoral bonds were introduced, which were devised to "legalise bribery" and ensure that the ruling party is the biggest beneficiary, the Congress leader said", Chidamanbaram added, reported news wire PTI.

On Thursday, the Election Commission uploaded the data on electoral bonds on its website as received from SBI. A total of 22,217 bonds were purchased during the period April 1, 2019, till February 15, 2024, SBI told the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh asked the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to release the full data of who donated how much to which political party.

Ramesh on Friday also described the electoral bonds scheme as the 'biggest scam of independent India' and said the data shared by the Election Commission was incomplete. He also said the Congress was not against the electronic voting machines (EVMs), but wants the use of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) in the poll process to ensure that voters know their vote was cast correctly, reported PTI.

Speaking at a press conference in Maharashtra, Ramesh said his party has been seeking an appointment with the ECI since last year, but have not been given an audience yet with the Chief Election Commissioner.

As per PTI report, "Refering that the data on electoral bonds is incomplete, he said, There are four categories in the list - those who purchased the electoral bonds and got government contracts, those who purchased bonds due to threat of investigating agencies, those who purchased bonds as bribe to get contracts and purchasing through shell companies", he said.

"This is the biggest scam of independent India. We have the option to move the Supreme Court...We will go to the people's court," he said.

(With PTI inputs)