What are India’s electoral bonds, the secret donations powering Modi’s BJP?
Al Jazeera
India’s top court is set to issue a verdict on their legality. What it decides could shape the world’s biggest election.
A mysterious source of electoral funding, which has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is under scrutiny in India after the country’s top court found in November that they “put a premium on opacity” and can be “misused for money laundering”.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court will announce its verdict on an ongoing petition calling for electoral bonds, which have become a major source of funding for political parties in India – and especially the BJP – to be banned.
What the court rules could fundamentally determine how India’s coming general elections, between March and May, are fought; how much of a role untraced money plays in it; and who has the resources to dominate the political landscape.
Under the electoral bond system introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2018, these bonds must be bought from the State Bank of India but can be donated to parties anonymously.
While donors using electoral bonds are technically anonymous, however, the State Bank of India is publicly owned, meaning the ruling party has access to its data. This is likely to dissuade large donors from using electoral bonds to donate to opposition parties, critics have said.
