EC publishes details of electoral bonds data on its website

The Election Commission has published details of the electoral bond data recevied from the State Bank of India (SBI) on its website.

According to the Election Commission, the data has been shared in two parts. The first set of data shows the name of the purchaser and denomination of the bonds while the other shows the political parties and denomination of the bonds encashed by them.

However, the data does not show any corelation between the donor and beneficiary. Thus, it is not possible to link the donor to the receiver.

List of prominent companies who donated to political parties

The data runs into hundreds of pages.

In a statement, the poll panel said that it has uploaded the data on its website as received from SBI on an "as is where is basis" after the Supreme Court's directions.

It said that the data can be accessed at www.eci.govt.in/candidate-political party.

It added that it has consistently and categorically weighed in favour of disclosure and transparency, a position reflected in the proceedings of the Supreme Court.

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. 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.

It was given a deadline of March 15 to publish the data.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has filed an application for the modification of SC order in the electoral bonds case, seeking that data submitted to the court be returned to the poll body as the EC has not maintained copies of the same.

On Wednesday, the State Bank of India had submitted a compliance affidavit in the Supreme Court, saying that it has provided the Election Commission with comprehensive details regarding the electoral bonds scheme.

In a landmark ruling on February 15, 2024, a five-judge Constitution bench had scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients.