Hafta 476: Electoral bonds, BJP candidates, CAA implementation

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Shardool Katyayan and JayashreeArunachalam are joined by Jagdeep Chhokar, founder and member of the Association for Democratic Reforms. On electoral bonds, Jagdeep says the exercise of matching the bonds data can never be conclusive, but “we should remember that the window between a bond being purchased and it being redeemed is 15 days”. The panel then discusses the BJP’s second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Abhinandan asks if the party is trying to change its image by dropping names of sitting MPs with a history of hate speech. Jayashree says it is fielding new faces only to strengthen the central leadership’s grip on state units. On the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, Shardool says the law is “practically useless”. He explains that the naturalisation process requires 11 years of residency in the country, whereas the deadline for granting citizenship under the CAA is December 2014, and the law is being notified almost after a decade. Tune in! We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us. Timecodes 00:02:31 - Headlines 00:19:19 - Electoral bonds 00:38:15 - BJP’s second list of candidates 00:48:33 - Notifying of CAA rules 01:02:49 - Letters 01:34:48 - Recommendations Hafta letters, recommendations, songs and references Check out our previous Haftai recommendations. Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Satish Kumar and Samarendra Dash.