The data includes funding details of all national, state and unrecognised political parties.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday uploaded the data on funds received by various political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, AIADMK, DMK, and Trinamool Congress (TMC) via the now-scrapped electoral bonds scheme on its official website.
The data includes funding details of all national, state and unrecognised political parties. The ECI submitted the information to the Supreme Court in sealed covers.
“Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Hon’be Supreme Court without opening sealed covers,” the Election Commission said in a statement. The data was uploaded to the official ECI website after the top court’s registry returned the physical copies.
“The Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitised record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover,” the ECI statement read.
What does ECI data show?
The new data by the ECI shows the date of issuance of the electoral bonds, the denomination of funds, number of bonds and the issuing State Bank of India (SBI) branch.
The information also contains dates of receipt and credit at the parties’ bank accounts. It, however, does not include the bond numbers, which can link the donors to the recipients.
Political funding through electoral bonds
Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.50 crore and received Rs 2,555 crore in 2019-20, making it the biggest recipient of electoral bonds.
Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is the second largest recipient of electoral bonds after the BJP. The TMC received Rs 1,397 crore via electoral bonds.
Following closely, the grand old Congress party redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore via the now-scrapped electoral funding scheme. K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is the fourth largest recipient of funds via electoral bonds.
The BRS encashed bonds worth around Rs 1,322 crore, as per the data furnished by the poll panel. The Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 944.50 crore, followed by Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress (Rs 442.80 crore), and N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party or TDP (Rs 181.35 crore).
Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party got Rs 14.05 crore via electoral bonds, Shiromani Akali Dal Rs 7.26 crore, AIADMK Rs 6.05 crore and National Conference Rs 50 lakh. The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) have said they have not received any donations via the now-scrapped electoral bonds scheme.
Supreme Court on electoral bonds
The new data comes days after the ECI approached the Supreme Court to modify its March 11 order when it dismissed the SBI’s plea seeking an extension till June 30 to furnish the electoral bonds data.
During the hearing on March 15, the top court questioned SBI for not disclosing electoral bonds data. “We had said all details had to be handed over to Election Commission (EC). They (SBI) have not disclosed the bond numbers. It has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India,” CJI D Y Chandrachud said.
Lok Sabha poll dates
The release of the new electoral bonds data comes a day after the Election Commission notified the dates for the upcoming general elections. The Lok Sabha polls will be held in 7 phases from April 19 to June 1 and the results will be declared on June 4.
