Men should vacate ladies' seats if women board later: MVD

A recent Facebook post on seat reservation for women in KSRTC buses was quick to escalate into a heated online debate. The post argued that if a man took up a reserved seat that lay vacant he should not be asked to vacate the same if women passenger boards the bus later. The viral post soon found its way into Whatsapp causing the debate to rage on full steam. Men who have had to give up seats in the past gave vengeful shout outs to the cause and many sympathetic women joined the bandwagon. But the Motor Vehicle Department and Kerala Police decided not to reserve their comments any longer.

Putting an end to speculations on the rights of passengers over reserved seats in KSRTC buses, the MVD and the Police Department stated that even if a man has taken up ladies' seats at the start of the journey when there were no women claimants, he is required to vacate the seat if a woman boards the bus later. The law asks all buses, including KSRTC buses, to reserve 25 per cent of the seats to women. This applies to KSRTC buses conducting short distance and fast passenger services. KSRTC specifically instructs the conductors to make sure that reserved seats are made available to women passengers when they board the bus.

There is no harm in a male passenger occupying a seat reserved for women if there are no women passengers who require a seat at the start of the journey. But if he refuses to vacate the seat for a woman passenger, he can be slammed with a fine. The MVD clarifies that this applies to occupying all seats reserved for specific categories. Motor Vehicle Department Act 177 states that a fine of Rs 100 can be levied from those who violate the seat reservation rule. If the violator makes the mistake of launching into altercation with the conductor about his right to keep sitting in the reserved seat, MVD can initiate legal proceedings against the passenger. If the charge of obstructing a public servant from performing his/her duty is pressed, the passenger will then be dealing with a police case.

The tactic of feigning sleep

A seat-defending-technique widely used in KSRTC buses is to feign sleep as soon as one sits down. Regular passengers say that the tactic is used by everyone irrespective of gender. Women passengers are accused for feigning sleep in the event of mothers carrying young children or pregnant women boarding the bus. A good number of women credit men for courteously giving up their seats for mothers with young children and pregnant women while fellow women passengers turn a blind eye. Though the sleeping passengers need not always be feigning, KSRTC, MVD and the Police confer the conductor with the authority to wake them up if they happen to be occupying reserved seats for which there are other claimants.

claimants during a journey.

Pester a woman, lose your seat

In buses conducting long distance services, the seats reserved for women are often occupied by men. If there are no women passengers who require a seat, this arrangement can be allowed by the conductor. However, if a man occupying a reserved seat adjacent to a woman passenger misbehaves, the woman can complain to the conductor. The conductor is required to ask the male passenger to vacate the seat immediately. The MVD can also initiate legal proceedings against male passengers misbehaving with women.

https://www.onmanorama.com/lifestyle/women/2019/03/23/men-should-vacate-ladies-women-seat-mvd.amp.html?fbclid=IwAR1gbXjW_qa9Cq9CVobF9aJompDngUfZkiUzpMK4VhoiER68HLmxicDZ0pU

Electoral Bonds: Firms Donated Way Beyond Their Profits, Which Parties Gained?

Despite incurring a loss of Rs 495 crore, Navyuga Engineering donated all of its bonds, worth Rs 55 crore, to BJP

West Bengal-based FMCG company Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd, which donated over 150 times its profit in the financial year 2019-20, gave the maximum share of its electoral bonds to the BJP, data made public by the Election Commission on 21 March shows.  

After the Supreme Court rap, the State Bank of India (SBI) submitted the complete electoral bonds data including unique alphanumeric codes which link the donor or companies with political parties

The Quint had earlier reported that at least 15 companies – big and small – had donated more than their capacity (in terms of net profit/equity) to political parties through the now-banned electoral bonds.  

Now, with alphanumeric codes available, let’s look at those companies, making less or no profits, donated to which political parties

MKJ-Keventer Group

The MKJ Group – led by noted industrialist Mahendra Kumar Jalan and based in Kolkata, West Bengal – donated Rs 192.42 crore between 2019 and 2023, primarily to the Congress, followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP.  

• In FY 2019, when the company made a net profit of Rs 5.03 crore, it donated nearly three times its profit, or Rs 14.4 crore to the BJP.   

• In 2022, the firm made a profit of Rs 62.9 crore but donated nearly Rs 30 crore to the Congress and Rs 20 crore to the TMC.  

•  In 2023, MKJ Group donated the maximum amount – Rs 54.1 crore – to the Congress, followed by Rs 16.5 crore to the BJP.

• Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd: Jalan is listed as Chairman Emeritus on the Keventer website. Based in Kolkata, this company donated Rs 195 crore in 2019. The lion’s share of this – Rs 144.5 crore or nearly three quarters of the bonds purchased in value – went to the BJP.

  In the same fiscal, the firm’s profit was Rs 12.4 lakh, or 0.0006 times what it donated to political parties using electoral bonds.  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Keventer Foodpark also donated Rs 20 crore each to the Congress and the TMC in 2009. 

  Madanlal Ltd, which is registered at the same address as MKJ Enterprises, bought electoral bonds worth Rs 185 crore in 2019 and donated 95 percent of those to the BJP. The remaining 5 percent – or Rs 10 crore was donated to the Congress.  

  Incidentally, its profit for FY 2019-20 was Rs 1.84 crore rupees, which means the firm donated over 100 times its profit to political parties through poll bonds.

  Siddharth Gupta, who is on the board of directors of MKJ Enterprises, Keventer Capital and Keventer Projects, is also a director at Madanlal.  

  Another company, Sasmal Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, with Mahendra Kumar Jalan on the board of directors, donated Rs 39 crore to the Congress and Rs 5 crore to the BJP.

  
  

  Navyuga Engineering Company Ltd

  Navayuga Engineering — which had built the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand that collapsed on 12 November 2023, trapping 41 workers for over 16 days — donated all of its electoral bonds worth Rs 55 crore to the BJP in two tranches: Rs 45 crore in 2019 and Rs 10 crore in 2022.

  However, in the last four years, Navayuga Engineering registered a consolidated net loss of Rs 495 crore. 

  The Hyderabad-based firm has bagged many ‘iconic projects’ including the Dhola-Sadia Bridge, over the Brahmaputra River in Assam, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017. 

  In April 2021, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd acquired complete control of Krishnapatnam Port Co Ltd from the Navayuga Group for Rs 2,800 crore. 

  
  

  IFB Agro Industries Ltd

  Kolkata-based IFB Agro Industries, which is a seafood processing firm and has IMIL bottling plants spread across West Bengal, donated Rs 42 crore or nearly half the electoral bonds it purchased, to the TMC between 2021 and 2023. 

  This was followed by donating Rs 35 crore to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) between 2023 and January 2024.

  The firm – helmed by Amitabha Mukhopadhyay – made a net profit of Rs 175.8 crore over the last four years and purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 92.3 crore, nearly half of its profit.  

  Interestingly, in a recording of the company’s Annual General Meeting for FY2023, the Executive Vice-Chairman Arup Kumar Banerjee and Managing Director and Mukhopadhyay said that the bonds were bought “as per our instructions from the government.” Ambani’s Old Business Associate Gave All Bonds to BJP

  Infotel Access Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Infotel Business Solutions Ltd and Infotel Technologies Pvt Ltd donated all the electoral bonds they purchased – worth Rs 30 crore – in 2019 to the BJP. 

  Of these, Infotel Technologies donated Rs 10 crore to the BJP while making a net profit of Rs 14.3 crore in the last four financial years.

  This means, the firm donated nearly 70 percent of its net profit from the last four years to the BJP. 

  Infotel Technologies has three directors: Kamal Kumar Sharma, Akhilesh Tripathi and Nitin Ved. It is linked to Surendra Lunia, an old business associate of Mukesh Ambani, through their director Kamal Kumar Sharma, who is the Executive Director and CFO at Lunia’s Infotel group. 

  
  

  Chennai Green Woods Pvt Ltd

  Hyderabad-based Chennai Green Woods, a construction company, made profits of Rs 36.6 crore in the last four fiscal years and donated nearly three times the amount – Rs 105 crore – to political parties.   

  The firm is owned by the Ramky Group, whose chairman is YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Ayodhya Rami Reddy. It registered a net profit of Rs 14.15 crore in FY 2021-22. 

  In January 2022, the company donated Rs 50 crore, which is almost half of its total bonds in value and 3.5 times its profit for the same fiscal, to former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). 

  Six months earlier, in July 2021, 15 properties linked to Chennai Green Woods were raided by the Income Tax Department. 

  Of the remaining, Rs 40 crore went to the TMC in April 2022 while Rs 15 crore went to the Congress in October last year, a month before Assembly elections were held in Telangana. 

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  Rithwik Projects Private Ltd

  Rithwik Projects – a Hyderabad based mining and infrastructure company – donated electoral bonds worth Rs 45 crore to political parties last year. Of this, two thirds or Rs 30 crore were donated to the Congress while Rs 10 crore went to the Janata Dal (Secular) and Rs 5 crore went to Telugu Desam Party (TDP).  

  The company, founded by BJP Rajya Sabha MP, CM Ramesh, is a major player in the infrastructure development sector across India, and holds important government contracts.

  Ramesh was a close aide of former Andhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and an MP from TDP, which has sealed an alliance with the BJP for the upcoming Assembly elections.  

  According to a report in The Hindu, days after Rithwik Projects bagged ₹1,098-crore Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for the Sunni hydroelectric project in Himachal Pradesh in January last year, it bought bonds worth Rs 5 crore. According to the recently-released data, these bonds were given to the TDP. 

  Interestingly, Rs 10 crore were donated in electoral bonds to HD Deve Gowda’s JD(S) in April 2023, just ahead of Karnataka Assembly elections. Rs 40 crore were encashed by the Congress around the same time.

  ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

  Smaller Firms That Spent More Than Paid-Up Capital Donated to BRS   

  In addition to these, The Quint had earlier reported that there are smaller firms whose paid-up capital was in just lakhs of rupees even as they purchased bonds worth crores of rupees within months of being set up.

  1. Hyderabad based Vasavi Avenues LLP, registered on 6 April 2023 with a paid-up capital of Rs 10 lakh, donated Rs 5 crore to KCR’s BRS in July 2023, within three months of inception.

  2. Telangana-based real-estate company Tsharks Infra Developers Pvt Ltd was set up with a paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh in March 2023. Within four months, in July 2023, they donated Rs 3.5 crore to BRS through electoral bonds.

  3. Registered under the same address as Tsharks Infra Developers mentioned above, Tsharks Overseas Education Consultancy Pvt Ltd was set up in May 2023 with a paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh. In July 2023, they donated bonds worth Rs 4 crore to BRS.

  4. Hyderabad-based construction firm Aparna Farms and Estates LLP was registered on 18 August 2020 with a paid-up capital of Rs 5 lakhs. Owned by Subramanyam Reddy Sannareddy and Venkateswara Reddy Chennuru, the company donated Rs 15 crore each to the Congress and BRS between October-November 2023, right before Assembly elections were due in Telangana. 

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  With Inputs from Abhilash Mallick 

  (Editor's Note: There is a slight mismatch in the overall data provided on the EC website as there are some entries with codes missing. We have relied on the codes that have been provided.) 

  (At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

  
  

  https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/electoral-bonds-data-profit-loss-company-vs-donation-bjp-congress-tmc-brs-news#read-more
  

The reasons why a judicious, sage & wise will only remember one face before casting their votes

Solid & compelling reasons why you should only vote for A PARTY & A SINGLE MAN in 2024.

The reasons why a judicious, sage & wise will only remember one face before casting their votes:

🔸As promised in 2013, brought back the entire Black Money stashed, abroad
🔸Made the promissory note with RBI Governor’s signature redundant (Guarantee)
🔸Made fun of people who suffered due to this sudden demonetization
🔸Couldn’t provide a proper reason for the entire exercise except a Jumla – 50 Din
🔸Made fun of Indians on Foreign Soil stating that Indians prior to 2014 used to feel pathetic being born in India
🔸Didn’t provide Aircraft to our security officials in Pulwama Despite their requests & demands
🔸Was busy shooting (as usual) while our soldiers got killed in the line of duty & no arrests were made
🔸Unnecessary wastage of Tax Payers money in the form of Tallest Statue, Bullet Train, Name changing a stadium in his own name
🔸Clueless around the biggest pandemic & made people to bang Thalis & Taalis to ward it off
🔸No clues on the number of deaths due to Demonitisation or COVID of Farmers Protest
🔸No one died due to lack of Oxygen when in reality people were grasping for Oxygen & dead bodies were floating in the Ganges, dead bodies were being seen eaten by Stray Dogs
🔸Forced a vaccine with his own photo on certificates
🔸Forced his photo at every Petrol Pump Hoarding while increasing the Diesel & Petrol prices many folds (despite much lesser crude price)
🔸Just turned a blind eye to Shaheen Bagh Protests, JNU Protests, Farmers Protest, Veterans Protest, Manipur etc
🔸Introduced an unwarranted scheme like “Agnipath” instead of normal entries to the armed forces.
🔸Strained relationships with neighbours while enjoying frequent international travels in a plane costing 8000 crores.
🔸Nepal stopped sending citizens for Armed Forces recruitment, Chinese kept pushing India & its boundaries, Strained relations with Maldives as a consequence pulling out of troops, strained relations with GCC for comments made around Prophet Mohammed
🔸Frequent bails to Rape & Murder accused
🔸Garlanding and lauding of Rape Convicts
🔸Cost of Petrol, Diesel, Gas, Vegetables, Grocery etc
🔸Misusing almost every institution to target the opposition while someone having grave charges became spotless by joining the party
🔸Introducing opaque & now termed unconstitutional scheme like “Electoral Bonds” & making a private fund under the disguise of GOI – The PM Cares Fund which didn’t fall under the ambit of audit.
🔸Fudging data on every account which got flagged many a times
🔸Unconstitutional extension to Babus & Bureaucrats who favoured out of the way & unconstitutionally
🔸Making Election Commission a personal stooge by choosing the members himself by bringing ordinance
🔸Personal & below the belt remarks for females & opposition leaders
🔸Mocking the First PM of India & getting to circulate & viral his fake news & images
🔸Only job of carrying cameras to all exquisite places & getting photoshoot changing clothes 5-7 times a day
🔸Throwing Jumlas of Multi-Crore Project role outs from every city visited to disguise the personal / political trip as an official one for tax payers to bear the expenses
🔸Getting swankiest & sprawling offices for party at almost every district location & costliest Head Quarter Building
🔸Using mother for political gains
🔸Throwing nonsensical Jumlas at almost every location & occasion
🔸Forcing 81 Crore inhabitants into free 5 kg ration every month for over 7 years
🔸Treating & considering “Pakoda Making” as job when unable to provide employment
🔸Playing with people’s emotions in the name of religion at every given occasion creating a religious divide within the country
🔸Introducing a scheme which provides citizenship to neighbouring county citizens while treating own countrymen as third world citizens (Farmers)
🔸Talking of nepotism of opposition while self practicing it even more vehemently.
🔸Speaking Jargons like – “Fakheer hain jhola utha kar chale jayenge” while in reality spending thousands of crores of Tax Payers money for self comfort & luxuries
🔸Favouring special friends for specific reasons despite international alarms being flagged & raised globally
🔸Getting favours for special friends, internationally be it Power Contract or Aviation contract for which French court initiates investigation & its still on
🔸Accusations & allegations of attempting to kill a Foreign National on International Soil
🔸Spending mind blowing amount of Tax Payers money for personal image building, advertisements & propaganda
🔸Frequently lying about claims vs. achievements on almost every occasion
🔸Making use of children for electoral & political purposes & gains
🔸Making India drop on every Global Index & disregarding it citing wrong methodology
🔸Ensuring India tops the chart in #FakeNews globally, thanks to the worst #ITCell & coolies
🔸Ruining & wiping off entire #Journalism from the Country
🔸Getting entire opposition suspended for a #ParliamentAttack in which own party member issued the passes to the culprits
🔸Getting numerous MPs suspended on account of #FakeRaids & #FakeNarratives
🔸Zero Tax benefits to #TaxPayers in a span of 10 Long Years
🔸Compromising, Frequent & Huge Data Leaks including snooping around Opposition through Peagasus
🔸Putting opposition leaders & dissenting voices under frivolous charges
🔸Creating 81 Crore Beggars with an assurance of them being depended for next 5 Years
🔸Making #CAG a worthless institution
🔸Removing Babus who show the mirror & place facts in front of Public
🔸Using #ArmedForces for Personal & #PoliticalGains

I guess more than sufficient & ample reasons for VOTING IN FAVOUR OF ONE INDIVIDUAL - Or do we require even more (many more left out), eh!!!

#Elections2024 #OneManShow #IndiaDependsOnOneMan #Encounter #HindusUnderAttack #OneManCountry #VoteForOneMan #Jumlas #Fekology #BestPM #MostApproved #FakeFigures

റിലയൻസ്‌ ഗ്രൂപ്പ് ബിജെപിക്ക് സമ്മാനിച്ചത് ശതകോടികൾ

മുകേഷ്‌ അംബാനിയുടെ റിലയൻസ്‌ ഇലക്ടറൽ ബോണ്ട്‌ രൂപത്തിൽ ബിജെപിയുടെ ഖജനാവിലേക്ക്‌ ഒഴുക്കിയത്‌ ശതകോടികൾ. ഇലക്ടറൽ ബോണ്ടുകളുടെ തിരിച്ചറിയൽ നമ്പരുകളടക്കം എസ്‌ബിഐ വ്യാഴാഴ്‌ച കൈമാറിയ വിവരങ്ങൾ തെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ്‌ കമീഷൻ അവരുടെ വെബ്‌സൈറ്റിൽ പ്രസിദ്ധപ്പെടുത്തിയതോടെയാണ്‌ റിലയൻസ്‌ അടക്കമുള്ള കുത്തക സ്ഥാപനങ്ങൾ ഏതെല്ലാം വിധം ബിജെപിയെ സഹായിച്ചെന്ന വിവരങ്ങൾ പുറത്തായത്‌. മൂന്നു റിലയൻസ്‌ കമ്പനിക്ക്‌ 50 ശതമാനം ഓഹരിയുള്ള ക്വിക്‌ സപ്ലൈ ചെയിൻ എന്ന സ്ഥാപനം വഴിയാണ്‌ ബിജെപിയിലേക്ക്‌ ശതകോടികൾ ഒഴുകിയത്‌. 

പല ഘട്ടങ്ങളിലായി 375 കോടി രൂപ ബിജെപിക്ക്‌ ലഭിച്ചെന്ന്‌ ഇലക്ടറൽ ബോണ്ടുകളുടെ തിരിച്ചറിയൽ നമ്പർ സഹിതമുള്ള പരിശോധനയിൽ വ്യക്തമായി. 2022 ജനുവരി അഞ്ചിന്‌ 200 കോടി രൂപയുടെ ഇലക്ടറൽ ബോണ്ടുകൾ റിലയൻസ്‌ അനുബന്ധ കമ്പനി ബിജെപിക്ക്‌ കൈമാറി. 2022 നവംബർ 11ന്‌ 125 കോടിയുടെ ബോണ്ടുകളും 2023 നവംബർ 17ന്‌ 50 കോടിയുടെ ബോണ്ടുകളും റിലയൻസ്‌ ബന്ധമുള്ള ക്വിക്‌ സപ്ലൈ ബിജെപിക്ക്‌ നൽകി. 

2019 ഏപ്രിൽ 12 മുതൽ 2024 ജനുവരി 24 വരെയുള്ള ഇലക്ടറൽ ബോണ്ട്‌ വിവരങ്ങളാണ്‌ തിരിച്ചറിയൽ നമ്പരുകൾ സഹിതം എസ്‌ബിഐ തെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ്‌ കമീഷന്‌ കൈമാറിയത്‌. വ്യാഴാഴ്‌ചയ്‌ക്കുള്ളിൽ തിരിച്ചറിയൽ നമ്പരുകൾ സഹിതം ബോണ്ടുകളുടെ പൂർണ വിവരങ്ങൾ തെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ്‌ കമീഷന്‌ കൈമാറണമെന്ന്‌ സുപ്രീംകോടതി എസ്‌ബിഐക്ക്‌ അന്ത്യശാസനം നൽകിയിരുന്നു. 
ലോട്ടറി ഭീമൻ സാന്റിയാഗോ മാർട്ടിനിൽ നിന്ന്‌ ഇലക്ടറൽ ബോണ്ട്‌ രൂപത്തിൽ കോടികൾ ബിജെപിക്ക്‌ ലഭിച്ചതായി കഴിഞ്ഞ ദിവസം വെളിപ്പെട്ടിരുന്നു. ഇതിനു പിന്നാലെയാണ്‌ മുകേഷ്‌ അംബാനി സഹായിച്ചതിന്റെ വിശദാംശങ്ങൾ പുറത്തായത്‌. സാന്റിയാഗോ മാർട്ടിനിൽ നിന്ന്‌ ബിജെപിക്കു പുറമെ തൃണമൂൽ കോൺഗ്രസ്‌, വൈഎസ്‌ആർ,എസ്‌പി തുടങ്ങിയ കക്ഷികൾക്കും ഇലക്ടറൽ ബോണ്ട്‌ രൂപത്തിൽ കോടികൾ ലഭിച്ചു. ആകെ 16,518 കോടി രൂപയാണ്‌ ഇലക്ടറൽ ബോണ്ടുകളിലൂടെ ഇടതുപക്ഷമൊഴികെയുള്ള രാഷ്ട്രീയ പാർടികൾക്ക്‌ ലഭിച്ചത്‌. ഇതിൽ 50 ശതമാനത്തിലേറെയും ബിജെപിക്കാണ്‌ ലഭിച്ചത്‌.

ഡൽഹി മദ്യനയക്കേസ്‌ 
പ്രതിയുടെ കമ്പനി ബിജെപിക്ക്‌ 
നൽകിയത്‌ 34 കോടി

ഡൽഹി മദ്യനയ അഴിമതിക്കേസിൽ ബിആർഎസ്‌ നേതാവ്‌ കെ കവിതയ്‌ക്കൊപ്പം പ്രതിയായിരുന്ന പി ശരത് ചന്ദ്ര റെഡ്ഡിയുടെ  അരബിന്ദോ ഫാർമ ലിമിറ്റഡ്‌ ബിജെപിക്ക്‌ ആകെ നൽകിയത്‌ 34. 5 കോടി രൂപ. ഇതിൽ 5 കോടി രൂപയുടെ ബോണ്ട്‌ മദ്യനയക്കേസിൽ 2022 നവംബർ 10 ന് ശരത് ചന്ദ്ര റെഡ്ഡിയെ അറസ്‌റ്റ്‌ ചെയ്‌ത്‌ അഞ്ചു ദിവസത്തിനുള്ളിലാണ്‌ കമ്പനി വാങ്ങിയത്‌. നവംബർ 21ന്‌ ബിജെപി അത്‌ പണമാക്കി. കമ്പനി 52 കോടി രൂപയുടെ ഇലക്ടറൽ ബോണ്ടുകൾ ആകെ വാങ്ങിയതിൽ 34.5 കോടിയും ബിജെപിക്കാണ്‌. തെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ്‌ കമീഷൻ പുറത്ത്‌ വിട്ട ബോണ്ട്‌ വിവരങ്ങളിലാണ്‌ ഇതുള്ളത്‌.  പിന്നീട്‌ കേസിൽ ശരത്‌ ചന്ദ്ര റെഡ്ഡി മാപ്പുസാക്ഷിയായി. ഭാരത് രാഷ്ട്ര സമിതിക്ക് 15 കോടി രൂപയും തെലുങ്ക് ദേശം പാർടിക്ക് 2.5 കോടി രൂപയും കമ്പനി സംഭാവന നൽകി.

OpinionElectoral Bonds Blow Giant Holes in Modi's Anti-Corruption Plank

The anti-corruption plank is dramatically slipping from under Modi’s feet as revelations about the real nature of anonymous contributions to political parties via electoral bonds, with the BJP being the largest beneficiary, are coming thick and fast.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s big claim that no corruption charge has ever tarnished his government lies in tatters after the Supreme Court declared the electoral bonds scheme ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional’.

The anti-corruption plank is dramatically slipping from under Modi’s feet as revelations about the real nature of anonymous contributions to political parties via electoral bonds, with the BJP being the largest beneficiary, are coming thick and fast.

Every official claim made before the launch of the murky scheme in 2017 stands totally discredited. Remember, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley boasted that established Indian corporates wanted this scheme to bring in white money into the electoral system and that they just wanted their identities protected.

This argument becomes laughable on a cursory scrutiny of the list which has largely small unknown companies, many acting as fronts of big corporates, pumping 10 to 100 times their net profit via electoral bonds.

Just think about the various possible motivations for doing this. Were some of these companies designed to just launder money for politicians? If so, what might have been the quid pro quo, a question Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud kept asking during the hearing of the electoral bonds case.

case.

What is the role of investigative agencies in extorting money out of infrastructure companies which are doing mega projects across India?

India?

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sought to defend her government by asking a meaningless question: “How do you know the contributions by companies came only after they were raided?”

The finance minister suggests that bonds could have been bought before the raids. She may be jumping the gun as more revelations in this regard are in the offing

The role of ED, Income Tax department and CBI, in what appears like an institutionalised extortion racket, was revealed earlier in an investigation by The News Minute and Newslaundry, which showed how over Rs 300 crore of electoral funding via the open trust route by some companies happened after investigations were launched against them by the ED and Income Tax department. This pattern is now also visible among the companies which have contributed huge sums via electoral bonds.

Modi’s anti-corruption plank was badly dented during the Karnataka elections itself when the charge of “40% Sarkara” had defined the character of the BJP rule. Large infrastructure projects, tom-tommed as a key driver of growth in the Modi era, seem to have opened floodgates of payouts so omnipresent in the electoral bonds saga. Guaranteed commissions seem to be the name of the game. It can easily appear in one of the ads of “Modi ki Guarantee”(Modi’s guarantee).

guarantee).

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has charged Modi with running the biggest extortion racket in the name of electoral bonds. The opposition parties are likely to escalate this campaign against Modi in the coming weeks as the election campaign hots up. True, opposition parties, too, have also got funds from electoral bonds, each receiving about 5% to 20% of what BJP had got.