Raipur:

A day after the Election Commission (EC) notified the Lok Sabha election date, former Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday said the now-scrapped electoral bonds The plan is “the biggest scam of the year.”

“This is the biggest scam of the year. The BJP has realized that it is losing the Lok Sabha election and has adopted a new strategy against the opposition,” the Congress leader told reporters.

However, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare SP Singh Baghel came out to defend the scheme and said the opposition had made baseless allegations against the BJP over the electoral bonds scheme.

“The opposition is spreading rumors against the BJP getting funds worth Rs 20,000 crore under the electoral bond scheme,” he said.

“TMC, just a regional party, got Rs 1,600 crore under the same scheme, while the Congress got Rs 1,400 crore and the BRS got Rs 1,200 crore. The electoral bonds make it binding for all political parties receiving funds, making all Money is invested in the election.” “Details of the transaction are recorded on its books or balance sheet. However, before that happens, the parties can cash in the bonds to cover their expenses,” he added.

Slamming the Congress, he said: “Now the Congress is claiming that the electoral bonds scheme was launched to blackmail companies using central agencies. Under their system, even transfers or handling of contracts are classified as party funds.”

Earlier in the day, the Election Commission released the latest data on electoral bonds, which had previously been made available to the public and submitted to the Supreme Court in sealed form as per the Supreme Court’s directives.

“The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the digitized data on electoral bonds received from the Supreme Court Registry on its website,” the poll panel said in a statement.

The European Commission initially submitted the details in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court and was later asked to make them public.

It is worth noting that this information relates to transactions that occurred before April 12, 2019. Details of the electoral bonds issued following the figures were revealed by the Electoral Commission last week.

“The data received from the political parties were deposited with the Supreme Court without opening the sealing cover. As per the order of the Supreme Court dated March 15, 2024, the Supreme Court Registry has returned the paper copy along with the digitized record of the data in the sealing cover of pen drive. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the digitized data on electoral bonds received from the Supreme Court Registry on its website,” the Election Commission added.

As per the latest details, the DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including Rs 509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming.

The BJP cashed in electoral bonds worth a total of Rs 6,986.5 crore. The highest amount received by the ruling party was in 2019-20, worth Rs 2,555 crore.

The Congress cashed in a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)