Electoral Bonds are just the tip of the icebergfeatured
In an article in Indian Express, Ashok Khemka noted that In the last fifteen months, Rs. 2,722 Crore has been donated through the non transparent electoral bonds. Almost 95% of this amount went to BJP. We have argued that electoral bonds are a step back in regulation of political funding. Transparency is a key element of political funding regulation and it should not be sacrificed on the altar of reducing influence of black money. We should note however, that the amount of money coming in through electoral bonds is a very low percentage of the total political funding and even if these bond go away, the battle for transparency is far from won.
How much is the total spending in Indian elections? Here are some estimates.
If we take the CMS estimates of Rs. 30,000 Crore for the 2014 elections, then the money through electoral bonds is less than 10% of total spend. CMS has estimated that the spend in 2019 would be more than Rs. 50,000 Crores and that means that the electoral bonds would be around 5% of the total money being deployed in elections.
As Mr. Khemka pointed out in the same article, in 28 days days since declaration of elections, the Election Commission has seized cash, alcohol, precious metal, etc. worth Rs. 1800 Crores! Mr. Khemka has argued that the seized amount can fully finance 5 candidates each in the 543 constituencies if we take the Rs. 70 Lakh per candidate limit as the actual spending! Clearly, the actual spending will be much much more than the seized amount by the time elections are over.
So yes, we should oppose the electoral bonds, but we should we aware the we are tackling only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Mr. Kehmka argued in favour of public funding as we have and it is time to work out some serious and detailed proposals for the same!
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Author –
Yogesh Upadhyaya
(Yogesh Upadhyaya is one of the founders of AskHow India. Blogs are personal views.)
