‘If consensus eludes, will go ahead with electoral bonds’

NEWDELHI: The government will go ahead with electoral bonds to promote transparency even if other political parties fail to come up with suggestions and consensus eludes on the issue.

Underlining the need to check the system of cash donations for political funding , finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that people, despite knowing the truth, are reluctant to come up with suggestions.

“If suggestions don’t come and consensus eludes us, then the government of the day can’t run away from its responsibilities..It will have to announce its decision, which will then become the law of the land,” Jaitley said at the Income Tax Day event.

In the Union Budget this year, Jaitley announced the introduction of electoral bonds to boost transparency in political funding. He also capped anonymous cash donations to political parties at ₹2,000.

The finance minister also urged the tax department to be prompt in redressing the grievances of taxpayers while expanding the tax base in a nonintrusive manner. However, he also said that privacy cannot be made an excuse for non-compliance. Recently, at the Delhi Economics Conclave, Jaitley had said that tax evasion had been the Indian normal.

Jaitley said that till last week he had not received any suggestion from political parties on the proposed electoral bond mechanism.

He also pointed out that for the last 70 years India’s democracy had been funded by invisible money.

Electoral bonds, as proposed in the Budget, would resemble a promissory note and not an interest-paying debt instrument and would be sold at authorised banks. The bonds will not bear the donor’s name.