New Delhi: In a significant development, the Election Commission released new data on electoral bonds to the public on Sunday. The information, which had been previously presented to the Supreme Court in sealed envelopes, was disclosed in compliance with a directive from the apex court.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- The information pertains to transactions that occurred before April 12, 2019.
- Details of electoral bonds issued after this date were disclosed by the ECI last week.
- ECI in a statement said, “Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of 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. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website.”
- According to the new details, DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including Rs 509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming.
- BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.5 crore. The highest amount received by the ruling party was in 2019-20 worth Rs 2,555 crore. Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.
- Earlier in February, the Apex Court, in a ruling struck down the Centre’s Electoral Bond Scheme, which allowed for anonymous funding to political parties, and ordered the SBI to stop issuing Electoral Bonds immediately.
