Kapil Sibal Advocates SIT Formation for Electoral Bonds Investigation

The State Bank of India’s electoral bond data was made public by the Election Commission the day before, and Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal stated on Friday that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) should be formed by the court to look into the matter. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, a Rajya Sabha MP declared that no investigative agencies would look into the electoral bonds issue.

“ED and CBI are sleeping right now. If this thing happens against the Opposition they would have taken action. They have taken an overdose of sleeping pills. You must remember because I don’t, that someone (referring to PM Modi) said ‘na khaoga na khane dunga’. What happened to that? Someone (PM Modi) said that they would bring black money from the Swiss bank and transfer Rs 15 lakh each to people’s accounts, but it seems like they have transferred that money to their accounts. In my opinion, this will not be investigated by any probe agencies. Now the responsibility is on the Court to determine what will they do and what action they will take,” Sibal said.

He went on to say that the two biggest frauds that have occurred in the nation are the demonetization scheme and the electoral bond scam. “An SIT should be formed in this case to look into the matter, just as the court did in the 2G case when one was made. We now need to see how the law will interpret this. It is also necessary to ascertain who made the PM-CARES donation. Which party received how much money is a matter of inquiry,” he continued. He went on to say that the investigation has many holes in it. “The investigation has many holes in it. Investigating who made each donation to the PM Cares fund is also necessary. That’s just a huge problem,” he continued.

The lottery tycoon Santiago Martin, the director of Future Gaming and Hotel Services, is the largest voter bond buyer, having bought bonds totaling Rs 1368 crore, according to data that the Election Commission of India posted on its website on Thursday. The information pertains to the years 2019–2024. Megha Engineering Infrastructure Ltd invested Rs 966 crores on bonds. Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL), with its headquarters located in Hyderabad, India, is a significant infrastructure company, according to the company website. Since its founding in 1989, the business has become well-known in the engineering and manufacturing industries.

The majority of well-known political parties have benefited from the program. The aforementioned political parties comprise the following: Telugu Desam Party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Aam Aadmi Party, Jana Sena Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, and Trinamool Congress. The Election Commission received data on electoral bonds from SBI earlier on Thursday, and it uploaded it to its website. Among the top donors to political parties were Future Gaming and Hotel Services and Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd.

Grasim Industries Limited PR, Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited, Piramal Enterprises Ltd, Muthoot Finance Limited, Pegasus Properties Private Limited, Bajaj Finance Ltd, Bharti Airtel Limited, Apollo Tyres Limited, and SpiceJet Limited are a few of the donors listed in the data. Other donors include Finolex Cables Ltd, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, Edelweiss Housing Finance Ltd, GHCL Ltd, Jindal Poly Films Limited, ITC Limited and Vedanta Limited. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Mankind Pharma Limited, Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited, Haldia Energy Limited, Essel Mining and Industry Limited, JK Cement Ltd., DLF Commercial Developers Limited, Avon Cycles Ltd., Zydus Healthcare Limited, Cipla Limited, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. Torrent Power, BG Shirke Construction Technology Pvt Ltd, Rungta Sons Pvt Ltd, Keventer Food Parks Limited, and Jindal Steel and Power Limited.