New details have emerged regarding what could be the largest case of election manipulation in India's history. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stands accused of misappropriating billions of Rupees, with the Modi government allegedly profiting off more than half of the donations collected from Indian corporations under the guise of electoral bonds.
According to a recent investigation by Scroll, the controversy extends to the allocation of telecom spectrum licenses. The saga dates back to 2012 when the Supreme Court of India nullified 122 telecom spectrum licenses granted without auction, ordering an immediate auction. Back then, then-Chief Minister Narendra Modi supported the court's decision, only for it to be abruptly reversed later on.
Fast-forward to December 2023, and the Modi government began awarding telecom spectrum licenses to select companies without conducting auctions, as reported by News Minute. Notably, Bharti Enterprises swiftly obtained a license along with spectrum authorization. Documents indicate that the Bharti group donated Rs 150 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds, both before and after securing the license.
But Bharti Enterprises wasn't alone in its contributions. Various Indian companies, including Airtel and Bharti Telemedia, collectively donated Rs236 crore to the BJP during this period, as revealed by Scroll. Additionally, evidence suggests that Reliance Industries and Elon Musk's Starlink sought spectrum licenses but were rebuffed by the Modi government, which favored Indian entities over foreign competitors.
The web of corruption doesn't end there. Similar instances involving Uday Kotak, CEO of Kotak Bank, have surfaced, with allegations of bribery transactions. Kotak saw a resolution after his bank donated Rs35 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds, according to Scroll.
Furthermore, pharmaceutical companies accused of producing substandard drugs or facing license revocations have allegedly donated a whopping Rs945 crore to the BJP, as per News Minute. Meanwhile, between April 2019 and February 2024, over 26 real estate firms purchased bonds totaling Rs700 crore, later followed by an additional Rs4,479 crore, before federal agencies initiated raids, reported The Indian Express.
Alarmingly, the lack of transparent records concerning donations via electoral bonds, coupled with the apparent nonchalance of regulatory bodies, raises serious concerns about accountability and the integrity of the electoral process.
