New Delhi: At least 20 newly incorporated companies – in existence for less than three years – purchased electoral bonds, despite the law saying that companies of this kind cannot make political donations at all. According to The Hindu, these 20 companies purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 103 crore.
“At the time when they purchased their first electoral bonds, five of these firms were in existence for less than a year, seven of them were a year old and the eight others had only completed two years. Notably, many of these firms were started in 2019 when the Indian economy went through recession or during the middle of the pandemic and bought electoral bonds worth crores of rupees just months after incorporation,” The Hindu‘s report notes.
Since 1985, companies less than three years old have been banned from making political donations. This rule was made to ensure that shell companies are not set up just for the sake of donating to political parties and thereby becoming a way to launder money.
Twelve of the 20 companies listed in The Hindu‘s report are headquartered in Hyderabad. “Together these 12 companies donated ₹37.5 crores, and close to 75% of which was encashed by the BRS, with the rest divided among the TDP, the Congress and the BJP,” the report notes.
