The Election Commission has disclosed information provided by political parties regarding electoral bonds, submitting it to the Supreme Court in sealed envelopes. This data is believed to pertain to transactions preceding April 12, 2019, with details post-dating this period recently made public by the EC. In an official statement, the EC announced the return of physical copies and digitized records by the Supreme Court Registry, which were uploaded onto the EC’s website today.
The release of this data coincides with the EC’s announcement of the Lok Sabha election dates, scheduled to occur across seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The documents released by the EC offer raw data concerning the bonds’ issuance dates, denominations, quantities, issuing SBI branches, receipt dates, and credit dates, omitting the unique bond numbers.
The Trinamool Congress has requested the unique bond numbers from SBI to comply with the Supreme Court’s directives, whereas the BJP has not made such a request, providing only raw data. The BSP stated it had not received any electoral bond donations, with similar claims made by the CPI(M). Notably, the DMK from Tamil Nadu reportedly received substantial sums via electoral bonds, including a significant contribution from Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming.
The Congress intends to disclose the raw data provided by SBI to the EC, with its Goa unit reporting a donation from VM Salgaocar. In contrast, the BJP’s Tripura unit and the NCP’s West Bengal unit claim no receipt of electoral bond donations. The TRS, now BRS, received substantial bond sums between 2018 and 2019, while Karnataka’s JD(S) listed prominent donors such as Embassy Group, Infosys, and Biocon.
Electoral bonds have served as a significant avenue for political funding, allowing anonymous donations through certificates procured from SBI. However, the Supreme Court recently invalidated the scheme, citing its infringement on voters’ rights to transparency in party financing. Notably, the BJP had received a significant proportion of election bond funds up to March 2023, with the Congress receiving a smaller share. Despite their prevalence, electoral bonds have obscured the identity of individual and corporate donors, leaving the flow of funds to political parties ambiguous.