9 of the biggest corruption cases that rocked India during Congress’ rule, right from Indira Gandhi’s time

The Indian National Congress, or the Congress party, has been one of the dominant parties post-Independence and has ruled the country for maximum number of years.

There have been seven Congress Prime Ministers, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru to the last Manmohan Singh.

The party changed the dynamics of politics and became one of the powerful institutions to steer India towards growth.

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However, the party, despite its various landmark decisions, was riddled with various corruption scandals that rocked India.

Right from Indira Gandhi’ rule to Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, the party saw dark phases. Congress saw tough times, especially after Sonia Gandhi became the Congress President.

Here’s are 9 of the biggest scams that rocked Congress

Indira Gandhi election fraud (1975):

Indira Gandhi election fraud (1975):
The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was barred from holding office for six years after she was found guilty of electoral corruption, which she blatantly rejected.
Gandhi was found guilty of dishonest election practices, excessive election expenditure, and of using government machinery and officials for party purposes. The judge rejected more serious charges of bribery against her.

Oil Scam (1976):

Oil Scam (1976):
The scam is linked to Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. A $200-million contract was awarded to the Hong Kong-based Kuo Oil Co to take future deliveries at current prices. The government lost Rs13 crore. It was reported that indirectly money went to Indira and Sanjay.
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Bofors (1987):

Bofors (1987):
The Bofors scam was one of the biggest under Rajiv Gandhi’s rule. The scandal relates to illegal kickbacks paid in a US$1.4 billion deal between the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors with the government of India for the sale of 410 field howitzer guns, and a supply contract almost twice that amount. It was the biggest arms deal ever in Sweden, and money marked for development projects was diverted to secure this contract at any cost. The investigations revealed flouting of rules and bypassing of institutions.

2G scam (2008):

2G scam (2008):
The 2G spectrum scam rocked Congress, when Sonia Gandhi was the president of the party. It involved politicians and government officials in India illegally undercharging mobile telephony companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they would then use to create 2G subscriptions for cell phones. The shortfall between the money collected and the money which the law mandated to be collected is estimated to be Rs 1,76,645 crore, as valued by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India based on 3G and BWA spectrum auction prices in 2010.
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Cash-for-vote scam (2008):

Cash-for-vote scam (2008):
Three BJP members had flashed Rs1 crore cash in Lok Sabha alleging that the money was given to them by floor managers of the UPA government to secure their support during the no-confidence motion after Left parties withdrew their support over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Commonwealth Games (2010):

Commonwealth Games (2010):
The Commonwealth Games scam came under scammer as billions of dollars were spent on the mega sporting event and it was rigged with serious corruption by officials of the Games' Organising Committee. In 2011, CBI arrested former CWG Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi in the Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) case under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.
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Devas-Antrix Scam (2011):

Devas-Antrix Scam (2011):
The Antrix-Devas scam is one of the most serious crisis. The deal between Antrix and Devas was signed in 2005 when G Madhavan Nair was at the helm of affairs in the Department of Space (DoS). He later blamed the UPA-2 government for things going south in the deal. As per the agreement, Antrix was to provide 70 MHz of the scarce S-Band space segment to Devas for its digital multimedia services. Antrix was to lease satellite transponders to Devas for allowing it to offer digital multimedia services using the S-band wavelength (spectrum), reserved for strategic purpose.

Coal scam (2012):

Coal scam (2012):
The then Indian Government of India has been charged with allocating coal blocks in an inefficient manner during the period 2004–2009. The then Congress government had the authority to allocate coal blocks by a process of competitive bidding, but chose not to and due to which public sector enterprises and private firms paid less than they might have otherwise.
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Chopper scam (2013):

Chopper scam (2013):
Several Indian politicians and military officials have been accused of accepting bribes from AgustaWestland in order to win the ₹36 billion (US$530 million) Indian contract for the supply of 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters
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