NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) on Saturday alleged that the BJP and the Congress, during their respective terms, took decisions that benefited corporates and emphasized that the electoral bonds introduced by the Centre should immediately be repealed.
The Left party has already approached the Supreme Court challenging the electoral bonds and a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued notice on Friday to the Centre based on the petition by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
Calling it “crony capitalism of the highest order”, Yechury said that electoral bonds violates the Constitution and needs to be repealed immediately.
“The bonds were introduced by perpetrating a fraud on the Constitution, by passing the Bill as a Money Bill although it did not qualify as one under Article 110 of the Constitution,” said Yechury.
He further said that corporates constitute the supply side of corruption and that is corroding our system.
“Political parties have been making policies that benefit the corporates and unless corporate funding is banned, the problem of corruption cannot be solved. Both the BJP and the Congress have received huge amounts from foreign companies and they amended Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), so that they cannot be prosecuted,” he said.
The Left leader also released a list of donors, including some foreign companies, who donated money to both the Congress and the BJP since 2004.
Yechury also listed out four statutes amended by the Centre through the Finance Act 2017 to introduce the electoral bonds, which were operationalised through a notification on January 2. These include the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934, the Income Tax Act 1961, the Companies Act 2013 and the Representation of People Act 1951.
The amendments in statutes were brought in as a Money Bill, thus bypassing the Rajya Sabha and passed with very little debate in the Parliament.