Despite today’s electoral bond data, questions may remain over ~4K cr gap

Significant amount raised before April 2019, shows ADR data

Information about over a quarter of electoral bonds said to have been issued since 2018 will not be in the public domain despite additional disclosures due on March 21. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to release information on serial numbers enabling matching of donors with the parties to which they donated money.

It has released information on data from April 2019 to February 2024.

The additional disclosures relate to bonds of the same vintage. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had earlier sourced additional data from applications filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

In January this year, ADR released a report, according to which, the State Bank of India issued electoral bonds worth over ~16,000 crore, and a similar amount was redeemed in 30 phases since the inception of the scheme in 2018.

A total of ~16,492 crore was redeemed by political parties, and the remaining ~26 crore funds were transferred to the Prime

Minister Relief Fund.

The ECI data covers 20,421 bonds worth ~12,769 crore. The

ADR data, however, collated information on 27,811 bonds worth ~16,492 crore. The gap is nearly ~4,000 crore and involves over 7,000 bonds. This also manifests in the declared data of key political parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party, for example, has bonds worth over ~500 crore, which are not part of the ECI disclosures because earlier data is excluded.

Other parties show similar gaps, though some have larger amounts in the ECI disclosures because they cover a period in which they received more donations. Data for the first eight phases is missing in the ECI data..

The top ten donors accounted for over a third of the total donations, valued at ~4,564 crore.

The top donor was Future Gaming and Hotel Services, which bought total electoral bonds worth ~1,368 crore, followed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited, which donated ~966 crore. In February, the Supreme Court had ruled the electoral bond scheme was invalid. It removed earlier limits imposed on corporate donations to political parties. The apex court subsequently ordered the full disclosure of electoral bond data, though only from 2019.

The data is being released in phases, with the latest details due on Thursday.