16th Jan 2020 10:01:PM Editorials
Eastern Sentinel Arunachal News

At a time when major chunk of public attention is either on CAA or NRC or NPR, a report released on Wednesday last by the seriously taken election watchdog Association For Democratic Reforms (ADR) has made some startling revelations. According to it, within two years of its introduction, electoral bonds had emerged as the preferred route for making donations to political parties, outsmarting all other existing means. This is really a paradox since even if there are much controversies regarding the scheme with considerable hue and cry which is still going unabated, it has emerged as first choice for many frontline political parties. It will not be difficult to arrive at the reasons behind this growing acceptance. It’s only because of the anonymity guaranteed to the donors which has made it highly popular, bringing once more to question the very intention of the scheme which is to usher in the ‘missing’ transparency in the country’s political funding ecosystem. And weighing it in the scale of ethics, there will be more questions than answers.
It must be remembered that electoral bonds were issued in January 2018 and the current ADR report tells who received how much. According to it, during financial year 2018-19, out of the six national parties, only BJP, Congress and TMC have declared receiving an income from contribution through electoral bonds which comes to a total of Rs 1931.43 crore. Out of this, Rs 1,451 crore, ie 75 % had gone to BJP’s coffers alone, followed by Congress which declared an income of Rs 383 crore or 20 % and TMC with Rs 97 crore.  Meanwhile, CPM, BSP and CPI are among national parties to announce that they have not received any donations through electoral bonds during this period. And since March 2018 when the first funding transaction through electoral bonds kicked off, SBI, the only authorised bank for the process, has sold approximately Rs 6,000 crore of electoral bonds. The trend that is emerging is clear to notice. It will become more ‘acceptable’ amongst Indian citizens, or a company incorporated or established in the country to fund political parties, of course with deep vested interests to be served suitably in future as there are no chances at all of getting revealed. In this context it can be recalled how the scheme invited serious reservations not only from several political parties but also from RBI and ECI.
It’s true all political parties need money to fight elections and there is also a constant clamour for minimising corruption that has unfortunately invaded the funding mechanism. But the question which will remain unattended is how can there be encouragement to transparency through electoral bonds when there is guaranteed opacity through anonymity. It’s time to make a serious and thorough assessment of it. 


Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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