Congress’ Chhattisgarh chief Deepak Baij on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to derecognize the Bharatiya Janata Party for ‘extorting’ money through electoral bonds.
In a statement, Baij said the data disclosed by the Election Commission shows that the BJP was the single biggest recipient from April 2019 to January this year due to the bonds which have been axed by the Supreme Court.
The BJP used the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax to extort money for the party through electoral bonds, Baij alleged. The BJP has received slightly less than 48 percent of all electoral bonds cashed by parties up to March 2023, amounting to around Rs.6,060 crore, he said.
On February 15, the Supreme Court scrapped the electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional” and saying it violated the right of voters to know who was financing parties. The court also struck down the amendments made to the Income Tax Act and the Representation of the People Act that made the donations anonymous.
