E-Paper
Election Commission uploads data on electoral bonds; check full list of donors
The SBI had submitted details of the electoral bonds to the Election Commission on Tuesday.
The Election Commission of India on Thursday uploaded the State Bank of India (SBI)-provided data on the electoral bonds on its website, in compliance with the Supreme Court's directions. The poll panel has uploaded the data into two parts - the first one containing 337 pages providing details of entities that bought the electoral bonds and the date of purchase, while the second part consists of 426 pages providing details of the political parties, dates, and the amount. However, the data does not provide details of which entity bought which parties' bonds.
“In compliance of Hon'ble Supreme Court's directions, contained in its order dated Feb 15 and March 11, 2024 (in the matter of WPC NO.880 of 2017), the State Bank of India (SBI) had provided the data pertaining to the electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 12, 2024. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data on electoral bonds on its website as received from SBI on “as is where is basis”,” the ECI wrote in an official release.
According to the data, the donors include - Grasim Industries, Megha Engineering, Piramal Enterprises, Torrent Power, Bharti Airtel, DLF Commercial Developers, Vedanta Ltd., Apollo Tyres, Lakshmi Mittal, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wine, Welspun, and Sun Pharma, among others.
While, the parties that redeemed electoral bonds include the BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JDS, NCP, Trinamool Congress, JDU, RJD, AAP, and the Samajwadi Party.
Check the full list of donors of electoral bonds:
The SBI submitted details of the electoral bonds to the Election Commission on Tuesday, a day after the top court rejected the lender's plea seeking an extension of the deadline to disclose details of electoral bonds. The Supreme Court had also directed the poll panel to disclose the information shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15.e
Notably, electoral bonds are money instruments that act as promissory notes or bearer bonds that can be purchased by individuals or companies in India. They are issued specifically for the contribution of funds to political parties. These bonds were issued by the SBI and were sold in multiples of ₹1,000, ₹10,000, ₹1 lakh, and ₹1 crore.
The electoral bonds scheme was first announced by former finance minister Arun Jaitley during the 2017 Budget session, It was later notified in January 2018 as a source of political funding by way of money bills introducing amendments to the Finance Act and the Representation of the People Act. However, last month, the Supreme Court struck down the scheme, terming it as “unconstitutional”.
