Election Commission makes fresh electoral bonds data public

The Election Commission released new data on electoral bonds on Sunday, which had previously been submitted to the Supreme Court in sealed covers. The apex court had directed the Election Commission to make this information available to the public. In a statement, the poll panel announced, “The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website.”

The ECI had initially submitted this data to the Supreme Court in sealed covers, but was later instructed to make it accessible to the public. The information pertains to transactions that took place before April 12, 2019, as details of electoral bonds issued after this date were disclosed by the election commission last week. The EC statement noted, “Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In compliance with 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 a sealed cover.”

According to the updated information, DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, with Rs 509 crore coming from lottery king Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming. BJP cashed in electoral bonds totaling Rs 6,986.5 crore, with the highest amount received by the ruling party in 2019-20 amounting to Rs 2,555 crore. Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds. In February, the Supreme Court invalidated the Centre’s Electoral Bond Scheme, which allowed for anonymous funding to political parties, and ordered SBI to stop issuing Electoral Bonds immediately.

The Supreme Court recently dismissed an application from SBI seeking an extension to submit details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission, instructing the bank to disclose the information by March 12. The apex court also directed the poll panel to compile the data provided by SBI and publish it on its official website by March 15, 2024, at 5 pm.