Congress Very Used To Black Money Funding: Piyush Goyal On Electoral Bonds

Lok Sabha Election 2024: Piyush Goyal said, "My feeling is that many of these Opposition parties do not desire to get formal funding. They want to get cash funding. A lot of it they may be skimming off"

Union minister Piyush Goyal told NDTV today that the electoral bonds issue does not figure among the key issues in the general election at all. "Nobody is asking," he told NDTV when asked about the massive Supreme Court verdict banning them ahead of the general election in which the BJP is hoping for a third straight term in power. The Opposition, he added, were upset about the bonds because it interfered with their personal gains that came from skimming off party funds.

The Supreme Court, which scrapped the Electoral Bond Scheme on February 16, had objected to undisclosed funding through corporate donations, saying the voters had a right to know who were funding the political parties. This, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, was because political contributors "get access", which leads to policy making. "Financial supports to political parties can lead to quid pro quo arrangement," said the bench led by Chief Justice Chandrachud.

"Bonds were brought in to ensure greater transparency in electoral funding," Mr Goyal told NDTV in an exclusive interview. "I think the Congress is so used to black money in funding that they were very disconcerted or uncomfortable because we were ensuring that everybody gives money through a bank account, a formal system and then the money goes into the Congress bank account," he added.