41 FIRMS FACING PROBE BY CENTRAL AGENCIES IN BOND LIST

Forty-one companies facing probe by the CBI, ED and the I-T Department gave ~ 2,471 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds, and ~1,698 crore of it was donated after raids by these agencies, civil society activists who challenged the poll funding scheme in the Supreme Court claimed on Friday.

Addressing the media after the Election Commission made public a fresh data set of electoral bonds, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioners in the court, said at least 30 shell firms purchased electoral bonds worth over ~143 crore.

He said 33 groups which have got 172 major contracts and project approvals from the government also made donations through electoral bonds.

“They have got a total of ~3.7 trillion in projects and contracts, in exchange for ~1,751 crore electoral bond donations to the BJP,” he alleged.

Bhushan also claimed that 41 companies which faced raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the Income Tax

Department gave ~2,471 crore to the BJP, and ~1,698 crore of it was given after these raids and ~121 crore was given in the three months immediately after the raids.

In at least 49 cases, Bhushan alleged, ~62,000 crore in postpaid contracts/project approvals were given by the Centre or Bjpled state governments, for which ~580 crore in “kickbacks” in the form of electoral bonds were given to the BJP within three months.

Bhushan claimed Kalpataru Group gave ~5.5 crore to the BJP within three months of an I-T Department raid on it on August 3 last year.