Nitin Gadkari points out the shortcomings

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said scrapping the electoral bonds scheme will open the door to black money and all parties should consider a better system. In an exclusive interview with NDTV Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia, Mr. Gadkari supported the electoral bonds scheme devised by late Arun Jaitley when he was the country’s finance minister.

“The fact is that campaigning for elections requires money. Every political party needs money,” he told New Delhi TV.

Talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic ambitions, Gadkari said: “The idea behind this scheme is that parties can get funds through bonds and if you want the economy to be number one, it will have Help boost the economy.” “What’s wrong with that?” he asked.

Mr Gadkari declared that he would not comment on the Supreme Court ruling but pointed to another shortcoming of the ban. He said if electoral bonds were banned, money would still come in, just in the form of black money.

“If you don’t allow (electoral) bonds, people will see money as secondary. That’s going to happen no matter what,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond program, arguing against unlimited and undisclosed funding through corporate donations with strings attached.

Chief Justice of India Chandrachud said: “Political donors have access to opportunities… and such opportunities lead to policy formulation… because of the link between money and votes. Financial support to political parties can lead to quid pro quo arrangements.”

Mr Gadkari noted that electoral bonds “will be bought by the rich”.

“Those wealthy people may have been contractors. Or achieved great success in trade or industry. So to link it to that (quid pro quo) is not correct,” he said.

When it was pointed out that electoral bonds can bring black money into the system, Mr. Gadkari said: “How can money that creates growth, creates jobs and income be called black money? The problem is that this money is taken abroad and dumped. “elsewhere”.

The Supreme Court has called the electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional, saying information about party funding is crucial to making electoral choices because the system can lead to changes in state policy that favor donors. The court said that while India’s electoral system involves secret ballots, the cloak of anonymity cannot be extended to political donations exceeding the Rs 2,000 threshold.