Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme to facilitate “the world’s largest extortion racket”, reported The Hindu.

The Wayanad MP also alleged that the funds acquired by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party through the scheme were used to divide the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra. He claimed that the funds were also used by the BJP to topple Opposition governments in other states.

Gandhi said this while addressing reporters in Bhiwandi, in Maharashtra’s Thane district, during the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, a day after the Election Commission published details about the purchasers and recipients of electoral bonds on its website.

“[Electoral bonds are] nothing but the biggest extortion racket and corruption scandal in the world,” Gandhi said. “Months after a contract is given or days after the Central Bureau of Investigation or Enforcement Directorate raids take place, the companies suddenly start giving electoral bonds to the BJP.”

To be sure, the electoral bonds data submitted to the Election Commission by State Bank of India does not include the unique serial numbers of the bonds matching them to their recipient political parties. However, the BJP has received the lion’s share of political funding through the scheme.

Last week, the Supreme Court had verbally observed that the State Bank of India must disclose these serial numbers. On February 15, the top court had struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional and said that they could lead to quid pro quo arrangements between donors and political parties.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has demanded a high-level probe by the Supreme Court against the BJP and demanded that the parties bank accounts be frozen, reported The Indian Express.

Senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Jha, speaking in Patna on Friday, cited the electoral bonds data as proof of the BJP being “the most corrupt political party in the history of the country”, PTI reported.

Jha alleged that the data flew in the face of the party’s “nationalistic pretensions” and proved that it was misusing central law enforcement agencies.

“A private company was raided by the Enforcement Directorate and, a few days later, it ended up purchasing electoral bonds,” Jha said. “Anybody can join the dots and make out what the so-called largest political party of the world has been up to,” he added.

Electoral bonds case in Supreme Court

The Supreme Court had on February 15 directed the State Bank of India to issue details of the political parties that received electoral bonds from April 12, 2019, and submit them to the Election Commission by March 6.

On March 4, the government-owned bank sought an extension till June 30 from the court to provide the information to the Election Commission.

The top court on March 11 dismissed the bank’s plea and directed it to disclose the details of the electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 12.

On Wednesday, the bank in an affidavit to the top court said it had furnished the names of purchasers of electoral bonds between April 2019 and February 15, 2024, to the Election Commission.

A total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased and 22,030 were redeemed by political parties between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2024, the affidavit said.

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