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PM Modi accuses Opposition of spreading lies on electoral bonds scheme: 'Everyone will regret it’
On February 15, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme, notified in 2018, as unconstitutional.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the opposition parties of "spreading lies" over the electoral bonds scheme, which has been struck down by the Supreme Court.
In an interview with ANI, the prime minister said that the country has been pushed towards "black money" in elections and everyone will regret it.
"…I never say that there is no shortcoming in decision-making. We learn after discussing and improve. There is a lot of scope of improvement in this also. But today we have completely pushed the country towards black money, hence I say everyone will regret it. When they will think honestly, everyone will regret it," Modi told the news agency.
The electoral bonds scheme, which was notified by the government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding.
On February 15, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme, notified in 2018, as unconstitutional and asked the State Bank of India and Election Commission of India to disclose all details of bonds purchased and encashed from April 2019.
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The court said that under the electoral bonds scheme, ruling parties can coerce people and entities to contribute and rejected as "erroneous" the Centre's argument that it protects the confidentiality of the contributor which is akin to the system of secret ballot.
The electoral bond verdict came ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and was immediately welcomed by opposition parties and civil society activists. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the biggest recipient of funds in all election cycles analysed by HT, except during the Bihar 2020 election cycle, when it was the fourth biggest recipient.
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The second biggest recipient was the Trinamool Congress which got ₹16.2 crore or about 9% of the money. The third biggest was the Bharat Rashtra Samithi with ₹5 crore.
