India publishes election donation data after court order

MUMBAI: India’s election commission published details of millions of dollars worth of political donations, confirming the immense financial advantage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party weeks out from national elections.

Electoral bonds have been a key method of political funding, allowing donors to give anonymously through certificates purchased from the State Bank of India (SBI). But last month India’s top court struck down the scheme as unconstitutional, saying it violated the right of voters to know who was financing parties.

Thursday’s data showed that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was far and away the single biggest recipient from April 2019 to January this year.

The BJP had received slightly less than 48 per cent of all election bonds cashed by parties up to March 2023, amounting to around US$730 million.

Congress, India’s main opposition party, had by contrast received around US$171 million in the same timeframe, or 11 per cent of the total.

Some of India’s top blue-chip companies figure on the list of those who bought bonds, including numerous bonds bought in the name of Indian magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, the UK-based executive chairman of multinational steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal.

Other donors include Indian mining giant Vedanta and Bharti Airtel, the country’s secondbiggest telecommunications company.

More than half of all donations received by political parties since 2018 came in the form of electoral bonds, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) advocacy group.