Amit Shah’s reaction to Supreme Court’s decision on electoral bonds: ‘I fully respect the order but…’
“In order to eradicate the impact of black money on Indian politics, electoral bonds were instituted. Everyone will have to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling. I support the Supreme Court’s ruling in its entirety.. But I feel that electoral bonds “Rather than abolishing the bond altogether, it should be abolished.” Reforms have been made,” Shah said in an interaction at the India Today Conclave.
In a landmark judgment delivered on February 15, a five-judge Constitution bench struck down the Centre’s electoral bond scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional”. It also ordered State Bank of India (SBI) to disclose details of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients.
On March 14, the Election Commission of India (ECI) uploaded the electoral bond data, a day ahead of the deadline set by the Supreme Court in the high-profile case.
During a conversation on Friday, Shah said there is a perception that the electoral bond scheme benefited the BJP because it is in power.
He said, “I want to make my stand clear on this matter. Of the total ₹20,000 crore electoral bonds, BJP has received around ₹6,000 crore. What became of the remaining bonds? TMC got ₹1,600 crore, Congress ₹1,400 crore, BRS ₹1,200 crore, BJD ₹750 crore and DMK ₹639 crore,” Shah said.
