The Murky World of Electoral Bonds

It’s Like Playing Cards with a Rigged Deck

Newsreel Asia Insight #30
Oct. 31, 2023

Imagine you’re at a poker table, and one player has a special deck of cards. He knows what’s coming next, but you and your friends are left guessing. Wouldn’t you be sceptical about the fairness of the game? Welcome to the high-stakes world of electoral bonds in India—a subject that’s headed for the courtroom on Oct. 31, and one that we should all care deeply about.

In a recent twist, Attorney General R. Venkataramani has come out swinging in favour of these mysterious electoral bonds, as reported by The Times of India. He says the Constitution doesn’t give us the right to know who is behind the money flowing into political parties.

What are electoral bonds? They are financial instruments that individuals or corporations can purchase from authorised banks and give to political parties as donations. These bonds are controversially designed to be anonymous, meaning the identity of the donor is kept secret. Only political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, are eligible to receive and encash these bonds.

It’s like giving someone a gift card, but you’re not buying them a book or a meal; you’re buying them influence and power. But here’s where things get thorny. It’s not just you, the individual, who can keep your donation hush-hush. Big corporations can too. And unlike you, they usually want something in return.

Imagine a giant pie worth a staggering 91.9 billion rupees, all baked from the secret recipe of electoral bonds. Now picture this: the governing Bharatiya Janata Party takes a massive slice worth 52.7 billion rupees, leaving crumbs for other national and regional parties, who have to share a much smaller slice of 17.8 billion rupees, as previously reported by The Hindu, which cited a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms. It’s like one kid hogging most of the candies in a game of “trick or treat,” leaving the rest to squabble over what’s left. And all this candy—well, it’s not just sugar, it’s power.

When so much money funnels into one place, you’ve got to wonder: is this really a level playing field?

Essentially, the concept of secret electoral bonds allows for money to flow into political campaigns without public disclosure of the source, creating an imbalance of information where only the ruling government and the receiving party know who the donors are. It opens the door for crony capitalism. In a system where the identities of donors are concealed, corporations could potentially use financial contributions to gain favour with the ruling political party without any public scrutiny.

So what can we do? How about saying no to all corporate donations? That way, big businesses can’t tip the scales. Or we could adopt “democratic equality vouchers,” a sort of political gift card that allows you, me and everyone we know to donate to the party we believe in. And if we really want to shake things up, let’s push for publicly funded elections. That way, the focus stays where it should be—on the issues, not on the size of the wallet.

Now, why should you care if you’re not into politics? Think about it. When only one side knows the rules of the game, it’s not a game anymore; it’s a con. Today it’s the BJP; tomorrow, it might be another party in power. But guess who stays in the dark? You, me and everyone who thinks their vote is enough to make a difference.

As the Supreme Court gears up to hear this case, remember, it’s not just lawyers and politicians who should be biting their nails. It’s all of us. Because knowing who’s funding our leaders isn’t just a constitutional question; it’s a moral one. And that’s a truth no courtroom can alter.