Electoral bonds data: Congress flags discrepancy in entries, recipient files
What's the story
The Congress has alleged that there is a discrepancy in the donor and recipient files in electoral bonds data shared by the Election Commission of India (ECI). On Thursday, the ECI uploaded the information shared by the State Bank of India on its website in compliance with the Supreme Court's order. Hours later, Congress leader Amitabh Dubey questioned on X why the poll bond data pertains to a period from April 2019 despite the scheme starting in 2017.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The ECI uploaded electoral bond data on its website just a day before the SC's deadline, in a high-profile case unfolding weeks ahead of general elections. The data revealed that the top five purchasers, including a lottery company, the Kaleshwaram dam builder, and major industrial conglomerates, collectively spent over Rs. 3,446 crore between April 2019 and February 2024. Notably, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received the highest donation redeeming bonds worth Rs. 6,061 crore.
Congress's claims
Congress attacks BJP, SBI over electoral bonds data
Questioning the SBI about the "discrepancy," Dubey highlighted that the donor's file had 18,871 entries while the recipient's file had 20,421. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also took to X to attack the BJP over electoral bonds data. "Over 1,300 companies and individuals have donated electoral bonds, including over 6,000 crore to the BJP since 2019," Ramesh said in his post on Friday.
Twitter Post
You can read Ramesh post here
Here’s a quick first analysis of the Electoral Bonds data disclosure that the SBI put up last night, after weeks of attempting to postpone it until after the election:
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 15, 2024
•Over 1,300 companies and individuals have donated electoral bonds, including over 6,000 crores to the BJP…
Electoral bonds data
SBI's poll bonds data
The SBI has provided two sets of data to the poll body. The first set includes details regarding each electoral bond's purchaser, date, and denomination. The second list contains details regarding the political party, date, and denomination of bonds encashed. However, there is no means to correlate these lists to determine which company donated to which political party. On Friday, the apex court pulled up the SBI for sharing "complete data" on electoral bonds.
Electoral bonds scheme
What was the electoral bonds scheme
Introduced by the Centre in 2017, electoral bonds allowed anonymous Indian citizens or companies to donate money to political parties. The bonds could be purchased at approved SBI offices in multiples of Rs. 1,000, Rs. 10,000, Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 10 lakh, and Rs. 1 crore. Once a donor handed over a bond to a party or parties, it could be cashed within 15 days. Significantly, this process ensured that the contributor's identity remained anonymous.