Former finance minister Arun Jaitley took just hours to dismiss the RBI's warning that electoral bonds could funnel black money into politics and destabilise the Indian currency, documents show

A confidential note reveals that finance ministry officials intentionally misled the Election Commission in an effort to dilute its opposition to the electoral bond scheme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office directed the finance ministry to break its own rules to approve the special and illegal sale of electoral bonds just before critical state assembly elections

The State Bank of India (SBI) maintains a secret number-based record of donors who buy electoral bonds, and the political parties they donate to. Law enforcement agencies can request access to this record

The bonds worth Rs 10 crore were redeemed soon after the 2018 Karnataka state elections resulted in a hung assembly. The bonds had been purchased in a special sale window opened at the direction of Prime Minister Modi's office

The Modi government claimed repeatedly that donors asked for electoral bonds due to fear of political retribution if they used transparent methods of funding. An RTI reply shows this was a lie

Modi govt's bizarre justification: Corporates should be allowed to donate secretly because they have a Right to Life under the Constitution which overrides citizens' right to information and is equal to citizen's right to secret ballot!

Documents obtained under RTI also reveal that crucial discussions on allowing shell companies to secretly fund political parties were not officially recorded

However, the bank regularly shares updates on the controversial funding scheme with the finance ministry, documents reveal

Documents reveal that all the costs associated with electoral bonds are paid from the Consolidated Fund of India, which includes all tax revenues