Union Minister Hardeep Puri Calls Electoral Bonds 'Gifts', Explains Why | Times Now Summit 2024

union minister hardeep puri calls electoral bonds ‘gifts’, explains why | times now summit 2024

New Delhi: Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday at Times Now Summit 2024 called electoral bonds “gifts” for political parties.

Hardeep Singh Puri, expressing why 2024 is different from 2014 and 2019, said, “I have watched 2014 and 2019. This time I am watching something else, I am seeing ground swell of support for a party from the areas which was regarded as remote from us- West Bengal and South India. How much of that ground support translates into seats is to be seen.”

Explaining why electoral bonds ‘gifts’ for political parties, the Union Minister said, “Every morning you get up and you get gifts thrown up from the other side. These are gifts which come our way, electoral bonds was one of them. We suddenly discovered a party who got 303 seats got 3000 crores worth of electoral bonds and a party with hardly any seats got 1600 crores. I have been overseas, tell me any system across the world where democracy works without political funding.”

What are electoral bonds?

Electoral Bonds are instruments very similar to promissory notes or bearer bonds that can be purchased by individuals, companies, firms, or associations of persons, provided they are citizens of India or incorporated/established in India. These bonds are specifically issued for contributing funds to political parties. Introduced by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017 through a Finance Bill, the scheme aims to facilitate donations to registered political parties while maintaining the anonymity of the donors. The State Bank of India (SBI) issues electoral bonds in various denominations ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore.

TIMES NOW SUMMIT 2024

Under the banner of “India Unstoppable,” this year’s summit aims to convene influential minds across diverse sectors, charting a course for the nation’s future that is both visionary and pragmatic.

At this landmark forum, strategists, policymakers, and influencers accountable for India’s future will converge to celebrate the achievements thus far, take stock and unearth the direction that the nation will take on Government, Politics, Economy, National Security, Health, Diplomacy, Infrastructure, Technology Innovation, and other such aspects that would define our future.