Electoral Bonds Data Revealed HIGHLIGHTS: Oppn Parties Target BJP After Poll Body Releases Data
Electoral Bond Data Revealed HIGHLIGHTS: The ECI's release of electoral bond data from the SBI sparked a barrage of responses from political parties. Follow this space for all updates.
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Electoral Bond Data Revealed HIGHLIGHTS: Hello and welcome to this space brought to you by ABP Live. The ECI's release of electoral bond data from the SBI sparked a barrage of responses from political parties. Follow this space for all updates.
In a significant step towards transparency in political funding, the Election Commission of India has uploaded data from electoral bonds issued by the State Bank of India. The details were uploaded on Thursday, one day before the Supreme Court's deadline. The data covers bond purchases ranging from ₹ 1,000 to ₹ 1 crore since April 12, 2019, and includes both individual and corporate purchases.
The EC's website contains two lists. The first is a list of companies that purchased electoral bonds, along with their denominations and dates. The other includes the names of the political parties, the denominations of the bonds, and the dates on which they were cashed. There is no way to correlate the lists and determine which company or individual donated to which party.
READ | SBI Electoral Bond Data: Here Is The List Of Top Donors To Political Parties
Future Gaming and Hotel Services PR made the largest contribution through the method, purchasing bonds worth ₹1,368 crore. Megha Engineering And Infrastructures Limited ranked second, purchasing bonds worth ₹ 966 crore.
Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited ranked third with ₹410 crore, followed by Vedanta Limited at ₹400 crore and Haldia Energy Limited at ₹377 crore.
The Election Commission of India's release of electoral bond data from the State Bank of India sparked a flurry of reactions on social media, notably X.
READ | 'One Donation. One Party': Oppn Takes A Jibe At BJP After Poll Body Releases Electoral Bonds Data
During a hearing on Monday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud slammed the SBI for "wilful disobedience of its order" to hand over the data to the poll body by March 6.
The court had ordered the SBI to submit the data to the Election Commission by Tuesday, warning that failure to do so would result in contempt proceedings. The court also ordered the bank's chairman and managing director to file an affidavit after the order was complied with.
SBI, India's largest bank, submitted the data on Tuesday and filed the affidavit with the court the following day. The affidavit stated that 22,217 electoral bonds were issued between April 2019 and February 15, 2024, before the Supreme Court ruled the scheme unconstitutional and arbitrary.
Himanta Says Will Take Legal Action Against Congress MP Over Electoral Bonds Claim
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he would take legal action against Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi for alleging that the state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a company that gave donation to BJP via electoral bonds. "The allegations levelled by Hon'ble MP Shri @pradyutbordoloi is devoid of any facts and are entirely baseless," Sarma posted on X.
Akhilesh Slams BJP After Poll Body Releases Data
Hitting out at the BJP, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav posted on X, ""Electoral bonds are BJP's guarantee to convert black money into white. Electoral Bond ‘Black Money Tourism’ means the BJP's guarantee of black money brought back."
इलेक्टोरल बॉण्ड काले धन को सफ़ेद करने की भाजपाई गारंटी है।
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) March 15, 2024
इलेक्टोरल बॉण्ड ‘Black Money Tourism’ मतलब पैसा बाहर ले जाकर वापस लाने के शुद्धीकरण की भाजपाई गारंटी है।
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