Electoral bonds eroding level playing field: Bhushan

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Senior Supreme Court lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan said that electoral bonds and the money power that BJP accrued with them wrecked any semblance of a levelplaying field in electoral democracy.

He made the comments during a talk entitled “Electoral Bond: Why is this the biggest scam?” in Bengaluru on Saturday.

The programme was organised by civil society groups Jagruta Karnataka, Janadhikar Sangharsha Parishat (JSP) and Bahutva Karnataka.

“For elections to be free and fair there should be a level playing field. What has happened is BJP got half of all funding through electoral bonds (Rs 8,251.8 crore of Rs 16,518 crore as per State Bank data). Meaning they got twice the money that all other parties combined got,” Bhushan said.

“This is merely 50 per cent of what they received over a period of six year. This makes a mockery of the idea of a level playing field,” he said, referring to the fact that apart from electoral bonds, other forms of political funding include cash, cheques, Demand Drafts etc.

The advocate added that the BJP also “controlled” the “mainstream media” and institutions such as the Election Commission of India (ECI).

He pointed out that earlier the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) was chosen by a selection committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) but the latter had been replaced by a Union Minister.

Push for reforms

Bhushan advocated for electoral reforms such as moving from first past the post voting system (highest vote getter wins) to Proportional Representation (PR) and state funding of elections.

PR refers to the concept of parties getting seats in proportion to their vote share. Party list PRs deploy candidates’ lists and the they are elected in order of preference.

The lawyer argued that voters are forced to choose winnable candidates, adding that ticket holders of larger parties have greater visibility.

“This visibility is attained by money, through advertisements in the newspapers, public meetings etc,” Bhushan said.

Quid pro quo pattern visible: NCPRI

National Campaign for People’s Right To Information (NCPRI) co-convenor Anjali Bhardwaj said that there was evidence to suggest that the ruling BJP “extorted” electoral bond money from large corporations through raids by agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

“At least 16 companies CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) raided paid large sums of money through electoral bonds,” she said.

She added that the judgement came late but should be celebrated and that a probe should be conducted into it.