NEW DELHI: Amid the raging debate on ‘who benefitted the most from electoral bonds’ and the subsequent sparring between political parties, the Congress on Saturday claimed that a mere three-line python code was just enough to unearth the links between corporate donors and political parties.
“It takes only three lines of python code and less than 15 seconds to expose the brazen and ridiculous claim of the SBI that it would take months to arrange the data, ” said Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary and Communications in charge in a press note.
He also accused the State Bank of India (SBI) of procrastinating the release of electoral bonds till June 30, 2024, apparently to put the BJP at an advantage in the ensuing 2024 elections and also alleged that this was being done at the behest of the Modi government.
Senior Congress leader also claimed that four patterns of blatant corruption were taking place under the Electoral Bonds schemes namely Pre-paid bribe, Post-paid bribe, Extortion and shell companies.
He claimed that the opaque bonds scheme was facilitating corruption at various levels of governance and said that there are at least 38 corporate groups that got contracts and projects approved by the government and are also registered donors to the ruling party via electoral bonds.
“These companies got a total worth of Rs 3.8 lakh crore in projects and contracts, in exchange for Rs 2, 004 crores in electoral bond donations to the BJP, ” said Jairam.
He further said that there are at least 41 corporate groups who faced raids by investigative agencies including ED and CBI and donated more than Rs 2, 500 crores to the BJP, out of which Rs 1, 853 crores was given away after searches at their premises.
“Out of 543 crore donations by shell companies in total, the BJP alone accounts for Rs 419 crore contribution by 16 shell firms, ” Jairam informed.
Jairam Ramesh, in the press note, also released the three lines of python code that he claimed, establishes the link between donors and political parties in less than 15 seconds.
Reiterating Congress party's firm stand on the electoral bonds, he said that revoking the opaque electoral bonds scheme was part of party’s 2019 manifesto.
“The Electoral Bonds scheme was designed to favour the ruling party, ” Cong’s 2019 manifesto said.