Electoral bonds is an ‘experiment’, time will tell how beneficial it has been: RSS general secy

PTI, Mar 17, 2024, 3:08 PM IST

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Sunday said the electoral bonds is an ”experiment” and time will tell how beneficial and effective it has been.

The RSS Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) on Sunday re-elected Dattatreya Hosabale for the post of ‘Sarkaryavah’ (general secretary) for three years.

The Election Commission on Thursday released the electoral bonds data, with a number of billionaire tycoons and lesser-known entities being among the buyers.

From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel, Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.

Asked about concerns being raised on the electoral bonds issue and claims that they were purchased to get favours, Hosabale said the Sangh has not yet discussed about it as the electoral bonds is an ”experiment”. ”It has been done with checks and balances and it is not that electoral bonds have suddenly been introduced today, it (such scheme) was brought earlier also. Whenever a change is introduced, questions are raised. Questions were also raised when the EVMs (electronic voting machines) were introduced,” he said.

”It is natural that questions will be raised by people when new things come up. But time will tell how beneficial and effective the new system is. Hence, the Sangh thinks it should be left for experiment,” Hosabale said.

The annual three-day ‘Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha’ of the RSS began at the ‘Smriti Bhavan’ complex in Reshimbagh area of Maharashtra’s Nagpur city on Friday. The meeting is taking place in Nagpur, the headquarters of the RSS, after six years.