Kerala: BJP Acquired Rs 614.52 crores in 2021-22 Alone
N S Sajith
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THE BJP acquired Rs 614.52 crore in 2021-22 alone through donations from corporates, individuals, and illegal trusts, none of which were approved by the Election Commission. This sum is in addition to the thousands of crores acquired through electoral bonds. However, in the documents submitted by the BJP to the Election Commission on November 7, 2022, the PAN numbers and addresses of many donors were missing.
According to regulations, parties must submit a list of donors who have contributed more than Rs 20,000 to the commission every financial year. The documents reveal that the BJP accepted donations from electoral trusts that lacked approval from the Election Commission. For instance, one such trust is the General Electoral Trust of Kerala. There is no address or PAN number of this trust to which ten lakh rupees was donated. Surprisingly, the Election Commission accepted the BJP's documents without requesting an explanation.
Moreover, the Prudent Electoral Trust, registered at Hans Bhavan, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi, alone donated Rs 249 crore to the BJP in 2021-22.
Out of a total of 4985 donors, including individuals, institutions, and trusts, who transferred money to the BJP through online, cheque, and NEFT channels, 27 donors were from Kerala. Notably, there is no PAN number or address provided for Mohammad Majeed, who contributed Rs 1 crore to the BJP.
Bank Account of CPI(M) Thrissur District Committee Frozen
TO pave the way for the BJP candidate in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, the Income Tax department has frozen the bank account of the CPI(M) Thrissur district committee. A notice was served to the Party, informing them that their account at the Bank of India MG Road branch has been frozen without providing any reason. The notice instructed the Party to refrain from making any transactions until further notice.
On April 5th in the night, IT officials arrived at the bank's MG Road branch to scrutinise the account details, summoning the district committee office secretary to the branch simultaneously. Party district secretary M M Varghese was interrogated by Enforcement Directorate officials in Kochi the previous day regarding issues concerning the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank, with inquiries made about the account details.
In response, the CPI(M) state secretariat issued a statement condemning the actions of the IT department. The Party emphasized its compliance with submitting accurate income and expenditure figures to both the Income Tax Department and the Election Commission annually, including the details of the Thrissur district committee's account. The freezing of the account without prior notice or explanation is unjust, said the Party.
The statement characterised these actions as part of the central government's strategy to target opposition parties and governments led by them. It urged the people of Kerala to engage more actively in the election process and to join the fight against such policies.
(N S Sajith)
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