New Delhi: Fresh data related to the electoral bonds scheme was made public by the Election Commission on Sunday. The data, which was initially submitted to the Supreme Court in sealed covers, has now been made public as per the court's directive. The BJP encashed electoral bonds amounting to Rs 6,986.5 crore, with the highest sum of Rs 2,555 crore received in 2019-20, news agency PTI reported, citing EC data.
The Congress, on the other hand, redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds, as per the report.
In another notable revelation, the data showed that the DMK led by MK Stalin received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including contributions from Santiago Martin's Future Gaming company, PTI reported.
Additionally, the data highlighted the Trinamool Congress as the second-largest recipient of donations through the electoral bonds scheme, having received Rs 1,397 crore.
BRS, led by K Chandrashekar Rao, emerged as the fourth largest recipient, following BJP, Trinamool, and Congress, having encashed bonds worth Rs 1,322 crore. The Samajwadi Party garnered Rs 14.05 crore through electoral bonds, PTI reported citing the data.
Further insights from the data revealed that the BJD encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 944.5 crore, while the YSR Congress and TDP received Rs 442.8 crore and Rs 181.35 crore, respectively.
The EC data further showed that Akali Dal received Rs 7.26 crore, AIADMK Rs 6.05 crore and National Conference (NC) encashed Rs 50 lakh, PTI reported.
"Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court's order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitised record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitised form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website," the Election Commission said in a statement.