Achi news desk-
GUWAHATI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday unveiled a fresh data set of electoral bonds received by political parties till May 2019 on its official website.
The data, provided by political parties to the ECI in sealed envelopes after the Supreme Court issued an interim order in April, 2019, reveals that just five political parties – BJP, Congress, Trinamool, BRS and BJD – together accounted for nearly 87% of the donations received through the scheme Electoral bonds.
Also Read: SC directs SBI to disclose all details on electoral bonds by March 21
However, most of the parties, accounting for nearly 94% of the donations, failed to disclose the details of their donors in the sealed envelopes, citing various reasons, while only two – DMK and Goa Forward Party – accounted for only 4% of the number of elections. Bond donations resulted in full disclosure of donor information, while some parties published partial disclosures.
The reason the parties gave for not disclosing details (or in some cases disclosing some donors, but not others) varied because the BJP stated that the electoral bond scheme was designed to provide anonymity to donors, and hence would not reveal their identities, while the NCP stated. that it did not keep records of every donor, as it was not required to do so, even though Congress provided no explanation at all.
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The new data provided more information on funds received by political parties since the inception of the electoral bond scheme, with the BJP leading with ₹ 8,251 crore, followed by the Congress with ₹ 1,952 crore and the TMC with ₹ 1,717 crore a distant second and third.
State Bank of India (SBI) was today directed by the SC to reveal the alphanumeric number corresponding to each bond by March 21, which is expected to establish a link between the donor and the beneficiary political party.
