Amaravati: The Telugu Desam Party on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the electoral bonds scheme and targeted the ruling YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh, asking the party to reveal details of funds it allegedly received through this.
TDP spokesperson Deepak Reddy recalled that their general secretary Nara Lokesh had previously dared the ruling YSRCP to disclose the details of the alleged Rs 100 crore funds it received in the form of electoral bonds.
"According to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), YSRCP received Rs 101.86 crore from corporates through electoral bonds between 2016 and 2022, which is roughly 15 per cent of the total national collections," Reddy alleged in a video statement.
He claimed that the YSRCP had received the second-highest quantum of funds among parties in the country through electoral bonds.
He also asserted that TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has been a vocal advocate of transparency and accountability in politics, demonstrated by his demand for the withdrawal of higher denomination currency notes to reduce corruption and payments to voters in polls.
Terming the Supreme Court's verdict as historic, the TDP spokesperson demanded that YSRCP and other political parties across the country battling similar allegations should come clean with answers on the funds that they actually received through electoral bonds.
On Thursday, a five-Judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme and called it a violation of the right to information and freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution, among others.
Published 15 February 2024, 12:16 IST