New Delhi: The Election Commission on Thursday published data related to funding through electoral bonds that was submitted by the country’s largest lender State Bank of India, on its website. The development came in the light of the Supreme Court judgment turning down the SBI’s request for more time to file the data.
Significantly, the data was published just a day ahead of the deadline that had been set by the apex court.
The Election Commission has shared the details on 'Disclosure of Electoral Bonds submitted by SBI' in two parts.
The data can be accessed here.
As per information released by the Election Commission, companies purchasing 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.
Political parties redeeming these 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, as per the provided data.
In a significant ruling on February 15, a five-judge Constitution bench invalidated the Centre's electoral bonds scheme, which allowed for anonymous political funding, deeming it "unconstitutional." The bench mandated disclosure by the Election Commission of donors, the donated amounts, and the recipients of these bonds.
The SBI had complied with the Supreme Court's directive by submitting to the Election Commission the particulars of the entities purchasing electoral bonds and the political parties receiving them.
After receiving the data, the EC wrote on X, “In compliance of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's directions to the SBI, contained in its order dated Feb 15 & March 11, 2024 (in the matter of WPC NO.880 of 2017), data on electoral bonds has been supplied by the State Bank of India to the Election Commission of India, today, March 12, 2024.”