Former election commissioner S Y Quraishi said on Friday the business of politics and crony capitalism were worrying phenomena for the election commission and that the government’s decision to introduce electoral bonds had weakened transparency in electoral funding.Explaining how the systems of transparency were subverted, Quraishi, while speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival , said the electoral bonds were “protecting quid pro quo”.“Earlier, any donation of Rs 20,000 was reported to the Election Commission. Now, thousands of crores will change hands anonymously. The reason given was that donors want privacy. But donors wants privacy because they want to protect their quid pro quo. That is what they want to keep secret,” Quraishi said.The former EC also pointed to another decision by the government — to do away with the cap on donations made by private companies to political parties — was “even more dangerous”. “The government has done away with the cap that allowed companies to donate no more than 7.5% of their profits in three years. Now that cap has been done away with completely,” he said.Friday’s discussion on Indian democracy, also saw French political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot raising concerns over the fate of “Federalism” in India if the ‘One Nation, One Election’ theory were to be implemented. Stressing on the vibrancy of democracy especially at the second and third tiers — at state and panchayat levels, Jaffrelot said he was concerned the “checks and balances” that came as part and parcel of India’s federal structure may be affected. “If there is a wave that sweeps the polls, all of India is in one colour. Where is Federalism in this context. The checks and balances in India and the states where democracy is most vibrant may be affected,” he said.Quraishi also said that while this was a good idea, in principal, there were practical and constitutional difficulties involved in its implementation and the reason why the idea was still being discussed and debated. “If a consensus emerges, it is good. If not, even better,” he said.