Super Exposé vs Speculation: Twitter on the Electoral Bond Story

The reactions to The Quint’s electoral bonds exposé.

An investigation by The Quint has revealed that electoral bonds have alphanumeric numbers printed on them to track links between political parties and donors.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier affirmed that these electoral bonds were meant to be anonymous and no one but the donor would know the political party they were contributing to.

Political funding via electoral bonds was announced in the Union Budget of 2017 and was implemented in January 2018.

The exposé drew mixed reactions from Twitter users. While some complimented the story and questioned the government about the same, others doubted the authenticity of it.

To assert its claim, The Quint published the forensic reports which proves the authenticity of the story.

Here are some of the reactions to the story:

Government Questioned

Electoral bonds aren’t as anonymous as they were made out to be it seems! A secret alpha-numeric number that only shows up under UV light is embedded in each bond. Very 007! https://t.co/YmRuQXCpN6

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 12, 2018

Great expose by @TheQuint . Must read. https://t.co/ZaOFOwwQyb

— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) April 12, 2018

Is the govt snooping on donors of opposition parties to harass and unleash IT dept on them? The expose by @TheQuint is eye opener for all the parties minus BJP. It has to be protested.

— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) April 12, 2018

Secret Policing? The Quint Finds Hidden Numbers on Electoral Bonds https://t.co/jOdoBSGKZw

— ParanjoyGuhaThakurta (@paranjoygt) April 12, 2018

Arun Jaitley had said “how much each donor has distributed to a political party would be known only to the donor”. Then who gave right to Govt to know it by secret invisible number? Why?To control & divert donation 2BJP reaching to ₹1400Crores in a year!https://t.co/ai0pb0ZF70

— Arjun Modhwadia (@arjunmodhwadia) April 12, 2018

When we first saw an electoral bond without a serial number, it piqued our curiosity: were they truly anonymous? But a forensic investigation shows this HIDDEN UNIQUE NUMBER. ALARMING! https://t.co/ZtvyBjivlj

— Raghav Bahl (@Raghav_Bahl) April 12, 2018

As I have been pointing out, the Electoral Bonds scheme is a nasty little piece of work. It LEGALIZES dark, dodgy political funding AND tilts the playing field in favour of the ruling party. But this revelation by @TheQuint takes the brazenness to another level altogether. https://t.co/A6VfO0DbnZ

— Tony Joseph (@tjoseph0010) April 12, 2018

Super investigative report by @TheQuint.

As many of us have long been saying, Electoral Bonds make political funding completely opaque for the citizens and entirely transparent for the government/ruling party, exposing everyone else to 24X7 surveillance. https://t.co/xeEv78UOPv

— Angshukanta (@angshukanta) April 12, 2018

Thanks @TheQuint for exposing the govt once again. https://t.co/ITBQtZt0zB

— Deepak Bajpai (@BajpaiDeepak) April 12, 2018

This is incredible if true - the whole point of the electoral bond was to kill transparency. Why in the world would someone spin this article to look like a bad thing for democracy?! https://t.co/agvz9AnYl7

— Tarutr Malhotra (@TarutrMalhotra) April 12, 2018

This govt has proven time n again that they r fakes and full of lies. Also lives of citizens r in grave danger. #CriminalsAtWork https://t.co/wy63aSbkhy

— Suressh (@pinky12j) April 12, 2018

This needs to be taken seriously. @TheQuint we hope you project it well to the nation.

— Vipul barodiya (@VipulBarodiya) April 12, 2018

It's to.track who is funding the opposition. Modi won't reveal his funding bit track the opposition's funding and then harass those who fund others.

— hindihainhum (@kabirazad2017) April 12, 2018

True Gujarat model
Surveillance in Modi n Shah DNA
Insecurity of these semi literates n crony capitalists with scams n murder charges behind them make them do the policing and use state machinery to keep dissenting voices n their supports under check

— Dharmasthapana (@jaysusri1) April 12, 2018

snooping gate in full effect in india. congrats amit shah and party.. @AmitShah @divyaspandana @jigneshmevani80 @AamAadmiParty @MamataOfficial @sanjivbhatt @siddaramaiah

— Siddharth Verma (@vermasiddharth7) April 12, 2018

Authenticity of Exposé Questioned

What could be the purpose of these numbers.. could these be just to establish the genuineness of the bonds in case of any conflict/dispute...the issue arises only if they are tracked.. no? Secret Policing? The Quint Finds Hidden Numbers on Electoral Bonds https://t.co/gpBmRF7a4D

— Ravi Subramanian (@subramanianravi) April 12, 2018

Nano chip on 2000 rupee note found its way into 'anonymous' electoral bond? https://t.co/PrYVrTulVj

— mohitsatyanand (@mohitsatyanand) April 12, 2018

Where wa this number hidden ? And if hidden how did you see it. Kuch bhi. Jaise 2000 ke note mei chip laga hua hai. Kuch kaam karlo yaar.

— Satyam Sriwastava (@28satyam) April 12, 2018

First you against the bond now you against the transparency of bond.... Bankcrpt bigot

— Arjuna (@Arjunthakar044) April 12, 2018