CPI-M: Electoral bonds a way to legalise corruption in the country

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Friday demanded the scrapping of the electoral bond scheme, saying that it was a route to 'finance' BJP which is the ruling party. On Wednesday, the Congress party hit out at the Centre demanding the BJP-led government to disclose all details about the electoral bonds before the Parliament alleging that the scheme has hindered the transparency in the funding of political parties. Now the CPI-M has joined the protests saying that the scheme of electoral bonds is practically a way of " legalising corruption" in the country. 

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"The recent exposures on how the electoral bond scheme was a route to finance the ruling party has once again established that such legalisation of political corruption must end," said the statement by CPI-M.

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Congress Leaders Stage Protest in Parliament

Senior Congress party leaders on Friday had staged a protest near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament premises against the ambiguity around the use of electoral bonds. They held placards reading, "New name of corruption is electoral bonds, speak up Prime Minister, Rs 6,000 crore for BJP? Ambani or Adani, transparency in electoral bond." One of the main allegations against the PMO was that corruption had been covered up through the electoral bonds scheme and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had floated a request to issue "illegal" electoral bonds ahead of Karnataka assembly elections in 2018.

The CPI-M also charged the PMO with similar allegations. "The PMO has been directing the Finance Ministry to instruct the State Bank of India to flout the ministry's own laid down rules to permit the realisation of expired bonds to facilitate its horse-trading in the post-Karnataka assembly election situation that resulted in a hung assembly," read the CPI-M statement. The Communist Party said that the electoral bonds must be scrapped immediately to keep our election process free and fair in the interests of Indian democracy. 

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(With ANI inputs)