Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan after the hearing in the electoral bonds case at the Supreme Court, in New Delhi, Monday, March 18, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Activists and lawyers on Friday called for a Supreme Court-monitored investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to uncover the corporate-political nexus arising from the financing of political parties through electoral bonds. They labelled this issue as the "biggest corruption scandal" in independent India.
Prominent lawyer Prashant Bhushan claimed that numerous companies donated large sums to the BJP and subsequently secured lucrative contracts, while others received relief from central agencies' actions after contributing money through electoral bonds. He argued that there is clear evidence of quid pro quo and advocated for a Supreme Court-monitored probe, similar to the investigations conducted for the 2G and coal scams.
Bhushan alleged that 33 companies, which collectively donated Rs 1,751 crore, received contracts worth Rs 3.7 lakh crore in various projects. Additionally, he claimed that 41 companies, which were under investigation by agencies like the CBI, ED, and IT Department, contributed Rs 2,471 crore to the BJP, with Rs 1,698 crore being donated after raids were conducted. He highlighted the alleged involvement of 30 shell companies that donated approximately Rs 143 crore.
He also mentioned that in 49 instances, contracts worth Rs 62,000 crore were awarded after the companies donated around Rs 580 crore to the ruling party. In 192 cases, he said, donations amounting to Rs 551 crore were made before the contracts were awarded.
"There was no money trail in 2G and coal allocations. But Supreme Court-monitored investigations were ordered. What has surfaced in the present case has a money trail and there should be a SC-monitored probe,” Bhushan, who was the lawyer for petitioners in the electoral bond case, said, a day after all details of electoral bonds were shared by the SBI.
Transparency activist Anjali Bharadwaj highlighted the case of Aurobindo Pharma, pointing out the firm's donations to the BJP and the subsequent relief received by its Director in the Delhi excise policy case. She alleged that Aurobindo Pharma donated Rs 5 crore to the BJP shortly after P Sarath Chandra Reddy's arrest in November 2022. Additionally, Bharadwaj claimed that another Rs 25 crore was encashed by the BJP in late 2023 after Reddy turned approver in the case in which Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on Thursday.
Jagdeep Chokkar, a founder-member of the Association for Democratic Rights (ADR), stated that the details of electoral bonds have provided evidence of the corporate-political nexus. "Earlier, we could not prove this nexus. Now no one can deny its existence," Chokkar said. ADR was the primary petitioner in the case.