BJP's intentions clear on raising funds from big corporates, says Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday took a jibe at the Centre on the electoral bond issue, saying that the 'BJP has made its intention clear as it will raise its funds from big corporates in an opaque manner'.

He said that the answer to this was a transparent crowd-funding from small donors through recordable digital transactions.

In a post on X, Chidambaram said, "On the eve of the hearing of the Electoral Bonds case, the BJP has made its intentions clear. The BJP will raise its funds from big corporates in an opaque, secretive and conspiratorial manner.

"The answer to this is transparent crowd-funding from small donors through recordable digital transactions. Let's see who wins: the Big corporates or the Small citizen who takes pride in contributing to a political party," the former Union minister said.

His remarks came after the Supreme Court notified the composition of a five-judge Constitution bench that will hear a batch of petitions filed against the electoral bonds scheme.

As per the causelist published on the website of the apex court, a bench headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra will take up the matter for hearing on October 31.

On October 16, the Supreme Court had decided to refer the pleas to a five-judge Constitution bench in view of the importance of the issue raised having regard to Article 145(4) of the Constitution.

The batch of pleas challenges the electoral bonds scheme introduced by the Centre through amendments made to the Finance Act of 2017, alleging that the scheme has opened doors to unchecked funding for political parties.