New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday made public fresh data on electoral bonds, which it had submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and was later asked to put it in public domain.
These details are believed to be pertaining to the period before April 12, 2019. Electoral bond details after this date was made public by the poll panel last week.
Political parties had filed data on Electoral Bonds in sealed cover as directed by the Supreme Court’s interim order dated April 12, 2019, the poll panel said in a statement.
“Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court’s order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website,” ECI said.
BJP, TMC among top beneficiaries of electoral bonds
Data from the ECI shows that the BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling ₹6,986.5 crore and ₹2,555 crore — the maximum — was received in 2019-20. The Congress redeemed ₹1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds. The BSP and the CPI(M) have issued statements stating they did not receive donations through the electoral bond scheme.
Among regional parties, TMC and BRS received most donations via the scheme. ECI data shows that TMC received ₹1,397 crore through electoral bonds, second largest recipient after the BJP. BRS was the fourth largest recipient through electoral bonds, having encashed bonds worth ₹1,322 crore.
The DMK received ₹656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including ₹509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming: EC data. The BJD encashed electoral bonds worth ₹944.5 crore, YSR Congress ₹442.8 crore, TDP ₹181.35 crore, data showed. The data shows that SP (₹14.05 crore) Akali Dal (₹7.26 crore), AIADMK (₹6.05 crore) and National Conference (₹50 lakh) got donations via electoral bonds
