Palghar (Maharashtra): Continuing his tirade against the BJP, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh termed the electoral bonds scheme as the "biggest scam of independent India" and the data that was shared by the Election Commission (EC) on it was "incomplete". He further stated that Congress was not against electronic voting machines (EVMs), but wants the use of voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) in the poll process to ensure that voters know their vote was cast correctly.
Addressing the media at Wada in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Friday, Jairam Ramesh pointed out that his party has been seeking an appointment with the ECI for the past one year, but has not been given yet with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).
The former Union Minister asked, "Why is the ECI afraid of meeting opposition parties." The details of electoral bonds data published on the Election Commission's website were incomplete, he pointed out "There are four categories in the list--those who purchased the electoral bonds and got government contracts, those who purchased bonds due to threat of investigating agencies, those who purchased bonds as a bribe to get contracts and purchasing through shell companies--he said.
"We have the option to move the Supreme Court...we will go to the people's court," he claimed. He made these statements a day after the EC put up the data on electoral bonds on its website. From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known company - Future Gaming and Hotel Services - were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.
The State Bank of India (SBI), which was the authorised seller of electoral bonds, has said in its data that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds of varying denominations were purchased by donors between April 1, 2019 and February 15 this year, of which 22,030 were redeemed by political parties.
