Information on over 1 / 4 of electoral bonds stated to have been issued since 2018 won’t be within the public area regardless of extra disclosures due on March 21.
The Election Commission of India is ready to launch data on serial numbers enabling matching of donors with the events to which they donated cash. It has launched data on knowledge from April 2019 to February 2024. The extra disclosures relate to bonds of the identical classic. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had earlier sourced extra knowledge from purposes filed below the Right To Information (RTI) Act.
In January, ADR launched a report, based on which, the State Bank of India has issued electoral bonds value over Rs 16,000 crore and the same quantity has been redeemed in 30 phases because the inception of the scheme in 2018. A complete of Rs 16,492 crore has been redeemed by the political events, and the remaining Rs 26 crore funds transferred to the Prime Minister Relief Fund. The election fee knowledge covers Rs 12,769 crore value of knowledge throughout Rs 20,421 crore. The ADR knowledge had collated data on 27,811 bonds value Rs 16,492 crore. The hole is almost Rs 4,000 crore and entails over 7,000 bonds.
This additionally manifests within the declared knowledge of key political events. The Bharatiya Janata Party, for instance, has over Rs 500 crore of bonds which aren’t a part of the election fee disclosures as a result of earlier knowledge is excluded. Other events present comparable gaps, although some have bigger quantities within the election fee disclosures as a result of they cowl a interval through which they acquired extra donations. Data for the primary eight phases is lacking within the election fee knowledge.
The prime ten donors accounted for over a 3rd of complete donations, valued at Rs 4,564 crore. The prime donor was Future Gaming and Hotel Services, which purchased complete electoral bonds value Rs 1,368 crore, adopted by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited, which donated Rs 966 crore .
The Supreme Court in February had dominated the electoral bond scheme was invalid. It eliminated earlier limits imposed on company donations to political events. The apex court docket subsequently ordered full disclosure of electoral bond knowledge, although solely from 2019 onwards. The knowledge is being launched in phases, the most recent particulars are due on Thursday.
First Published: Mar 20 2024 | 7:51 PM IST
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