New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the biggest beneficiary of donations made through the electoral bonds since they were sold in March 2018, foresees no negative impact on voter sentiment and therefore, its electoral fortunes in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, following the Supreme Court’s Thursday order, banning the use of the instrument.

As per election watchdog, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the BJP received 57 % of the ₹16,000 crore donations made through the instrument between 2018 and 2022.

Former law minister and senior party leader, Ravi Shankar Prasad said the party will study the judgment running into hundreds of pages, “carry out a comprehensive study and give a structured reply.”

Prasad said the bonds were an electoral reform measure introduced for a “laudable objective” of ensuring transparency in electoral funding and to reduce the use of cash in polls. “The donors expected to have their identity kept under wraps (as) there is a possibility of political vindictiveness…” he said.

The opposition, however, criticised the government for introducing the bonds. Congress lawmaker Rahul Gandhi in a post in Hindi on social media platform, X said, the SC judgment asserts that “ the BJP had made electoral bonds a medium for taking bribe and commission.”

Also Read: SC strikes down electoral bonds scheme, ECI to make donations public by March 13

The opposition’s attack notwithstanding, senior BJP leaders said the apex court’s order that is perceived to punch holes in the union government’s claims of ushering in transparency in electoral funding will not “undo” or “alter” the voter’s support for the government’s development politics.

A senior party leader, speaking on condition of anonymity said, “In 2014, electoral reforms and transparency in funding was part and parcel of the BJP’s anti-corruption agenda. The idea was mooted with the twin purpose of preventing and checking the misuse of cash and announced for cash or black money and to maintain confidentiality of the donors, who so wanted it.”

Announcing the electoral bonds as a means of donating to political parties in his budget speech in 2017, the then union finance minister Arun Jaitley had described it as an instrument of ensuring more transparency in electoral funding.

The leader quoted above explained that while corporates and big companies are known to donate to political parties, it was conveyed to the BJP that if donations are not kept confidential, then it makes them vulnerable to vendetta by political parties that benefit from the donations, but do not want the companies to donate to other parties.

Also Read: Electoral bonds scheme struck down: ADR, one of 4 petitioners, welcomes Supreme Court verdict

“The government was receptive to the request from donors. It also ensured that the bonds are not sold via private entities or banks. The rules were clear that only the State Bank of India will be allowed to sell the bonds, they will be credited into the accounts of registered parties; and the identity of the donors will be known only to the bank,” the leader quoted above said.

A second leader said seizures of large amounts of cash from political leaders in recent times have reinforced the BJP’s “credibility”.

“In small towns and villages there is appreciation for the BJP for cleaning the system and cracking down on illegal hoarders, launderers, middlemen. The BJP is the only party that encourages payment though online platforms and cheques instead of continuing with the practice of taking donations worth ₹20,000 in cash brought down the amount to ₹2,000,” the second leader said.

He said the seizure of ₹340 crore from multiple factories of an Odisha-based distillery linked to Congress’s in Jharkhand in December was an example of the Opposition’s allegations against the BJP not being tenable.

To be sure, when the idea was mooted by the union government, the election commission had opposed it, dubbing it opaque. In 2017 when the finance bill was amended, and the amendments were made to the Representation of People Act the poll panel had conveyed its objections to the law ministry. The EC eventually gave its nod to the instrument in 2018. The Congress party too had demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into what it termed “opaque” donations.

Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, allows political parties to accept any amount of contribution voluntarily offered to it by any person or company other than a government company, subject to certain other conditions.