'No one knows who funds the BJP'

February 16, 2024 09:25

The Supreme Court of India in a path-breaking verdict on Thursday, February 15, 2024, told the State Bank of India to disclose the names of all the contributors of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India.

Electoral bonds -- introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government -- was put in practice in January 2018 -- and allowed corporates and individuals to donate money to political parties without any limit.A donor has to buy electoral bonds from the State Bank of India and donate funds to a political party of his/her choice.

There has been criticism from Opposition parties on electoral bonds, data with the Election Commission of India and the Association for Democratic Reforms shows that that the bulk of the funds via the bonds went one political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com spoke to Dr Jaya Thakur, general secretary, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, one of the petitioners against the electoral bonds, on why she went to court and why she felt electoral bonds lacked transparency.

Read the interview here

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