As the #ElectoralBonds case comes up in SC & the Central govt says citizens don't have a right to know source of bonds, here's a 🧵 on papers accessed under RTI Act on how concerns of RBI & ECI were ignored & proposal for public consultations dropped after a meeting with the PM.
Several laws were amended to allow Govt to bring Electoral Bonds scheme. Changes were made to RBI Act, Representation of People Act, Companies Act & Income Tax Act. RBI had raised serious concerns about changes being made to RBI Act in letter dated 30/1/2017 #ScrapElectoralBonds
Govt rejected objections of RBI on electoral bonds claiming, among other things, that these came late “at a time when Finance Bill is already printed” though RBI replied within 2 days! Noting signed by then FM. Why did govt seek comments if bill was final? #ScrapElectoralBonds
The then RBI Governor, Urjit Patel, flagged serious concerns about issuance of #ElectoralBonds in a letter to the Finance Minister. These included the risk of money laundering, forgery & cross border counterfeiting.
Election Commission flagged 2 key problems with Electoral Bonds-
• ECI being in the dark about sources of bonds will prevent it from monitoring party finances
•Removing safeguards on funding by companies will lead to shell companies being set up solely for funding parties.
Govt sought views of political parties WITHOUT sharing a draft of the #ElectoralBonds Scheme. INC, CPI & BSP objected & sought a copy of the scheme. SAD suggested that only profit making companies should be allowed to donate a %age of their profits.
In violation of Pre-legislative consultation policy, govt did not make draft of Electoral Bond Scheme public before notifying it. Info obtained under RTI suggests proposal to hold consultations with political parties & seek public comments was scrapped after a meeting with the PM
In a meeting, Election Commission flagged major concerns including:
-need for ECI to be informed by political parties reg funds received thru EBs
-discriminatory eligibility criterion allowing only political parties getting more than 1% of votes polled to receive funding thru EBs
Even Law Ministry objected to provisions in Electoral Bond Scheme. Said criteria of parties needing 1% of votes polled as condition for accepting Bonds was a violation of the Representation of Peoples Act.
More than ₹ 13,500 crores have been donated anonymously through #ElectoralBonds to political parties.
EBs are a threat to democracy- they promote unchecked quid pro quo & violate people’s RTI. Voters can’t make an informed choice if they don't know who is funding parties. Watch-
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