Stunning revelation done by Nitin Sethi of Huffpost India shows that the Prime Minister’s Office ordered illegal sale of electoral bonds just before the Assembly polls.
As per the investigative report, just ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan, Prime Minister’s office ordered the Finance ministry to flout norms and sell electoral bonds illegally. The report also says that, the act was done in desire of more political funds by the PMO. When the rules were broken first, it was termed as an ‘exception’ but soon turned into a habit. So, the BJP Government has been allowing purchase of bonds even outside the permitted window, right before elections.
A confidential note uncovered by Nitin sethi of the Huffpost India revealed that the Election Commission was deliberately misled by the government of Narendra Modi to dilute it’s opposition to Electoral Bonds.
A Finance Ministry document that has been obtained under the RTI Act, says, “PMO desired to open a special 10-day window for issuance of electoral bonds. However as per para 8(2) of the notification on electoral bond Scheme, dated January 2, 2018, an additional 30-day window could be specified by the Central government in the year of the general elections to the House of People. At this stage, such a special window with general elections to Lok Sabha far away, may not be in consonance with the wordings of the notification.”
What’s more stunning is, the PMO overruled the strong objections made by the Reserve Bank of India. The document of Reserve Bank of India’s detailed objection to the government’s proposal on electoral bonds says, “Bearer instruments have the potential to become currency and if issued in sizeable quantities can undermine faith in banknotes issued by RBI. The bonds are bearer bonds and are transferable by delivery. Hence who finally and actually contributes the bond to the political party will not be known.”
The RBI said that the Electoral bonds would be a type of “bearer bond” — a notoriously opaque financial instrument that carries no trace of its ownership.