Congress alleges Rs 10K crore electoral bond scam in poll-bound Maharashtra

The Congress has accused the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra of orchestrating a Rs 10,000 crore scam involving road infrastructure projects and electoral bonds, just ahead of the Assembly poll.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged that 13 per cent of the total funds generated through the sale of electoral bonds came from Maharashtra. Khera claimed that Rs 10,000 crore of taxpayer money was funneled to select companies for infrastructure projects and returned through electoral bonds, benefiting the ruling BJP and its allies.

Khera specifically mentioned eight road projects under the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), including the Pune Ring Road sections E1, E3, W1, W2, W3, W4, MMC1, and MMC9. He alleged that the MSRDC changed the pre-qualification criteria to favour two companies, violating its own guideline that no single company can be awarded more than two projects. Despite this, all eight projects were allegedly distributed to two firms.

Khera criticised the categorisation of these projects as tunnel projects, pointing out that only 10 per cent of the work involved actual tunnel construction, while the rest did not justify this classification.