Election Commission Releases Electoral Bond Data Of Political Donations
The list released includes the donations made through the bond between April 2019 and January 2024.
The Election Commission of India has released the data on electoral bonds on its website as received from the State Bank of India, in line with a stern order from the Supreme Court.
SBI had submitted the data Tuesday evening. The top court had ordered the poll body to collate the data and make it public on its website no later than 5 p.m. on March 15.
The list released includes the donations made through the bond between April 2019 and January 2024.
Electoral bonds worth Rs 12,155.51 crore were bought till Jan 11, 2024.
According to the data uploaded by the poll panel, the buyers of electoral bonds 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.
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, according to the data.
On Monday, the apex court rejected a plea by SBI to extend the March 6 deadline to release this data. A bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, came down strongly on the bank for "willful disobedience" of orders and warned it of contempt proceedings if it failed to meet this deadline.
The top court noted that contributors under this scheme were required to submit a KYC form and proof of payment through cheque or a demand draft. Therefore, details of the contributors are readily available with the SBI, the court said.
Last month, the top court struck down the electoral bond scheme in a unanimous ruling and called it unconstitutional.
The development comes ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections.
