Election Commission makes fresh electoral bonds data public: See full list

BJP encashed electoral bonds totaling Rs 6,986.5 crore; Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds

The Election Commission of India (ECI) made public new details on electoral bonds purchased by people, redeemed by parties. 

DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including Rs 509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming, the EC data revealed.
 

Key Points:

--- Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds

--- BJD encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 944.5 crore, YSR Congress Rs 442.8 crore, TDP Rs 181.35 crore

--- BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.5 crore; maximum Rs 2,555 crore received in 2019-20

--- BRS fourth largest recipient through electoral bonds, encashed bonds worth Rs 1,322 crore

--- SP got Rs 14.05 crore via electoral bonds, Akali Dal Rs 7.26 crore, AIADMK Rs 6.05 crore, National Conference Rs 50 lakh

--- DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including Rs 509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming

BJP encashed electoral bonds totaling Rs 6,986.5 crore. The highest amount received by the ruling party was in 2019-20 worth Rs 2,555 crore. Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.
 

Meanwhile, regional parties like BJD, YSR Congress and TDP encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 944.5 crore, Rs 442.8 crore and Rs 181.35 crore respectively. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress received Rs 1,397 crore through electoral bonds and it is the second largest recipient after BJP.

See full list (Click here)

Telangana LoP K Chandrashekar Rao's BRS emerged as the fourth largest recipient through electoral bonds and encashed bonds worth Rs 1,322 crore. Samajwadi Party got Rs 14.05 crore via electoral bonds, Akali Dal Rs 7.26 crore, AIADMK Rs 6.05 crore and National Conference Rs 50 lakh.

The CPI(M) has declared that it will not receive funds through electoral bonds, while filings made by the AIMIM and BSP showed nil receipts.

Top purchaser of electoral bonds Future Gaming and Hotel Services donated Rs 509 crore to Tamil Nadu's ruling party DMK through the now scrapped payment mode, the Election Commission data showed.

Election Commission said, "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 digitised form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website.”

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.

Citizen's Rights Trust filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court seeking disclosure of the details of electoral bonds sold from March 1, 2018, to April 11, 2019, saying voters are entitled to know funding to political parties for the entire period since the start of the scheme.

On Thursday, ECI published the electoral bond details provided by the State Bank of India (SBI) on its official website.

ALSO READ: EC declares electoral bond data: Future Gaming & Hotel tops the list

In compliance with SC's directive, SBI shared the information with the ECI on March 12 and presented the affidavit about the same with the apex court on March 13. Additionally, the top court had given the ECI time till March 15 to upload the data on its website. 

The electoral body has uploaded the 'Disclosure of Electoral Bonds' submitted by SBI into two sections on “as is where is basis”.

Lakshmi Mittal, billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel, Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known entity called Future Gaming and Hotel Services are on the list of purchasers of electoral bonds, according to the Election Commission (EC) data made public on Thursday evening.

Future Gaming was probed by the Enforcement Directorate recently. It bought electoral bonds worth over Rs 1,368 crore under two different sets of companies.

Most prominent parties have been beneficiaries of the scheme. They include the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Shiv Sena, YSR Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, National Conference, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Sikkim Democratic Front, and Jana Sena Party.

What are electoral bonds?

Electoral bonds were introduced in the country on January 28, 2017 by then Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley. The objective was to facilitate transparent political funding. These bonds, issued exclusively by SBI, served as a designated financial instrument that offered individuals and corporate entities the opportunity to contribute funds to political parties discreetly, as those bonds had no identification of the donor and the political party to which it was issued.

See full list: Donor wise

Electoral bonds were available in denominations of Rs 1,000 and could be acquired from SBI branches during specific periods stipulated by the government. Political parties could then redeem those bonds through their designated accounts within a prescribed timeframe.

See full list: Party wise