Page 9 - Electoral Bond

SC strikes down electoral bonds: Full timeline and scheme explained

Electoral bond scheme: What it is, why it was introduced and how the controversy played out with a complete timeline of events here

SC's electoral bond ruling will reinforce power of votes over notes: Cong

The Congress on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict striking down the electoral bond scheme, and said it will reinforce the power of votes over notes. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, The Supreme Court has held the much-touted Electoral Bonds scheme of the Modi Sarkar as violative of both laws passed by Parliament as well as the Constitution of India. The long-awaited verdict is hugely welcome and will reinforce the power of votes over notes, he said. The Modi Sarkar has been inflicting ANYAY upon ANYAY on the Annadatas while privileging the Chandadatas, Ramesh said. We also hope that the Supreme Court will take note that Election Commission has been consistently refusing to even meet political parties on the issue of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). If everything is transparent in the voting process then why this obstinacy? he said. The Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme, saying it violates the right to information

SC says electoral bonds unconstitutional, asks SBI to submit all details

Electoral bonds scheme: The apex court has asked the SBI to give all details of donations via electoral bonds to ECI, which will have to publish it on its website by March 31

Supreme Court to pronounce judgment on electoral bonds scheme today

The electoral bonds scheme, introduced in 2017, provided anonymous donations to political parties

SC to decide on validity of Centre's electoral bonds scheme on February 15

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on Thursday on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had on November 2 last year reserved its verdict in the matter. The scheme, which was notified by the government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring in transparency in political funding. According to the provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by any citizen of India or entity incorporated or established in the country. An individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals. Only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and which secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the last elections to the Lok Sabha or a state legislative assembly are eligible to receive .

BJP got Rs 1,300 cr via electoral bonds, over 7 times what Cong received

The ruling BJP received nearly Rs 1300 crore through electoral bonds in the 2022-23, which was seven times more than what the Congress got in the same period through the same route. The BJP's total contributions stood at Rs 2120 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal, of which 61 per cent came from electoral bonds, according to the party's annual audited report submitted to the Election Commission. In FY 2021-22, the party's total contributions were to the tune of Rs 1775 crore. The party's total income in 2022-23 stood at Rs 2360.8 crore, up from Rs 1917 crore in FY 2021-22. The Congress, on the other hand, earned Rs 171 crore from electoral bonds which was down from Rs 236 crore in FY 2021-22. The BJP and the Congress are recognised national parties. The Samajwadi Party, a recognised state party, had earned Rs 3.2 crore through electoral bonds in 2021-22. In 2022-23, it received no contributions from these bonds. Another state recognised party, the TDP, earned Rs 34 crore through electo

Election Commission releases final summary rolls, TN has 61.8 mn voters

Tamil Nadu has an electorate strength of 6,18,90,348 with women voters outnumbering men as per the integrated final electoral roll of the special summary revision, 2024, released on Monday here. The final published electoral roll had reference to January 1, 2024 as the qualifying date, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Satyabrata Sahoo said. Of the total electorate, male voters are 3,03,96,330, female voters constitute 3,14,85,724 and the third gender 8,294. The Shozhinganallur Assembly constituency in Chengalpattu district has the highest number of electors with 6,60,419 (male 3,30,522, female 3,29,783, third gender 114), followed by Kavundampalayam Assembly constituency in Coimbatore district which has 4,62,612 electors (male 2,29,950, female 2,32,538, third gender 124). The Kilvelur Assembly constituency in Nagapattinam district with 1,72,140 electors (male 84,702, female 87,435, third gender: 3) has the least number of voters followed by Harbour Assembly constituency in Chennai ...

Megha Engineering, SII, Nippon topped list of Electoral donors in FY23: ADR

Ten corporates donated Rs 332.26 crore, or 90.66% of total donations

Sale of 30th tranche of electoral bonds will start from January 2

The government has approved the issuance of the 30th tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale on Tuesday. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding. General elections are due later this year as the term of the 17th Lok Sabha is coming to an end. "State Bank of India (SBI), in the XXX Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorised Branches w.e.f. January 2 to January 11, 2024," the finance ministry said in a statement on Monday. The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened in March 2018. Electoral bonds are encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank. SBI is the only authorised bank to issue electoral bonds. The authorised SBI branches include those in Bengaluru, Lucknow, Shimla, Dehradun, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, ...

BJP received Rs 256.25 crore from Prudent Electoral Trust in FY 2022-23

The BJP received a total of Rs 256.25 crore from Prudent Electoral Trust, while the BRS received Rs 90 crore and the YSRCP Rs 16 crore from the fund during the financial year that ended in March 2023. The trust gave total donations of Rs 363.15 crore to political parties during the year, according to its filing before the Election Commission (EC). The data shared by the trust reveals that while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received 70.56 per cent of the donations made by it during the past year, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received a total of Rs 90 lakh from the fund in two tranches of Rs 45 lakh each. The contributions made by the trust to the BJP were in 17 tranches. The trust made three contributions to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), totalling Rs 90 crore. The maximum contribution of Rs 75 crore was made in one tranch to the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party while another of Rs 10 crore and yet another of Rs 5 crore were given to the ruling party in Telangana. The YSRCP, which

EC compiling details of electoral bonds shared by parties, to submit to SC

The Election Commission is in the process of compiling details of electoral bonds shared by various political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, before submitting them to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover, a poll panel functionary said on Thursday. On November 3, the EC had asked "all such parties" that have ever got any donation through electoral bonds to furnish by November 15 the details of such contributions received by them since the inception of the scheme. It had also sent a reminder to the parties on the issue. The EC's move came after the Supreme Court directed the poll panel on November 2 to produce before it in a sealed cover the "up to date" data of funds received by political parties through electoral bonds till September 30, 2023. "The details are being compiled. Several parties have shared details," the EC functionary said. Major political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, have submitted the details to the EC. In a letter to heads of all poli

EC asks parties to share details of donations received via electoral bonds

The Election Commission has asked "all such parties" which have ever got any donation through electoral bonds to furnish by November 15 the details of such contributions received by them since the inception of the scheme. The move by the EC comes after the Supreme Court on November 2 directed the poll panel to produce before it in sealed cover the "up to date" data of funds received by political parties through electoral bonds till September 30, 2023. In a letter to heads of all political parties on November 3, the EC has also asked them to share detailed particulars of the donors against each bond, the amount of each such bond and the full particulars of the credit received against each bond in a sealed cover. The EC's letter said particulars should be sent in double sealed cover -- one duly sealed envelope containing the particulars and second duly sealed envelope containing the first envelope -- to its secretary of the election expenditure division. The EC said the sealed covers

Sale of 29th tranche of electoral bonds begins amidst polls in 5 states

The sale of the 29th tranche of electoral bonds started on Monday amidst assembly elections in five states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. This round of electoral bonds comes in a short interval of about a month after the 28th phase, which opened for sale on October 4. The government approved issuance of the latest round of electoral bonds, days after the Supreme Court reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties. On October 31, a five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra commenced hearing arguments on the four petitions, including those filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). After the detailed hearing on the matter, the apex court reserved the judgement on November 2. Two days aft

Govt approves issuance of 29th tranche of electoral bonds, sale from Nov 6

Ahead of assembly elections in five states, the government on Saturday approved the issuance of 29th tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale on November 6. The decision comes amid campaigning for assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. Elections in these states span from November 7-30. Counting of votes will be done on December 3. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding. "Government of India has authorised State Bank of India (SBI), in the XXIX Phase of sale, to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorised Branches w.e.f. November 6-20, 2023," the finance ministry said in a statement. The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened in March 2018. Electoral bonds are encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank. SBI is the only authorised ba

Give data of funds received by political parties via bonds: SC directs EC

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to produce before it in sealed cover the "up to date" data of funds received by political parties through electoral bonds till September 30, 2023. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud referred to the April 12, 2019 interim direction passed by the apex court directing political parties to furnish the details of funds received by them through electoral bonds to the poll panel in a sealed cover. The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the April 2019 order was not restrictive to the date on which it was pronounced, and if there was any ambiguity, it was necessary for the poll panel to seek a clarification from the top court. While hearing arguments on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties, the bench observed the ECI should have the up to date data. "I

TMS Ep555: BS BFSI summit, Mid and SmallCaps, electoral bonds

BS BFSI summit: What did experts say about Indian economy, markets and investments? Has the recent correction made Mid and SmallCaps attractive? What is the electoral bonds case? All answers here

Electoral bonds scheme aims to eradicate use of black money: Centre to SC

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that almost every country, including India, was grappling with the problem of use of black money in elections and the electoral bonds scheme was a "conscious attempt" to eradicate the menace of "unclean money" in the poll process. Arguing before a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said the apex court may not take this particular scheme as a standalone attempt in the direction of dealing with the menace of black money. Mehta highlighted steps taken by the government to deal with black money including digitised payments and action taken against 2.38 lakh "shell companies" between 2018 and 2021. "The use of black money in elections and politics in general and elections in particular...every country is grappling with this problem. Country-specific issues are being dealt with by every country depending upon the circumstances existing. India is also

Electoral bonds scheme provides for 'selective anonymity', says SC

The Supreme Court Wednesday said the problem with electoral bonds scheme is that it provides for "selective anonymity" and "selective confidentiality" as the details are available with the State Bank of India (SBI) and can also be accessed by the law enforcement agencies. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud observed the problem with the scheme would lie if it does not provide a level playing field to political parties and if it suffers from opacity. While hearing arguments on a batch of pleas challenging the validity of electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties, the apex court said the motive behind the scheme may be perfectly laudable but in an effort to bring in white money into the electoral process, it essentially provides for a "complete information hole". "The problem with the scheme is it provides for selective anonymity. It is not completely anonymous. It provides for selective anonymity, selective confidentiality. it is not ...

Electoral bonds generated donations worth Rs 9,188 cr, BJP's share at 57%

Electoral bonds generated donations worth over Rs 9,188 crore for all political parties put together till 2021-22, of which the BJP alone accounted for over 57 per cent as against 10 per cent for the Congress, according to ADR data. Between 2016-17 and 2021-22, the last year for which the data is available, seven national parties and 24 regional parties received a total donation of Rs 9,188.35 crore through electoral bonds. Of this, the BJP received Rs 5,272 crore and the Congress received Rs 952 crore, while the rest went to other parties. A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday began hearing a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bond scheme for political funding of parties. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), national parties experienced a significant surge in electoral bond donations, witnessing a 743 per cent increase between FY 2017-18 and FY 2021-22. In contrast, corporate donations to national parties incre

Electoral bonds scheme wholly arbitrary, has to be struck down: Sibal to SC

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal said the Electoral Bonds scheme is wholly arbitrary and has to be struck down