National Desk, 15th March: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), and the Congress have emerged as the top three beneficiaries of electoral bonds, as per data released by the Election Commission.
Following the Supreme Court’s directive, the State Bank of India submitted the data, revealing the extent of funding received by various political parties through electoral bonds.
According to the disclosed information, the BJP secured over Rs 6,061 crore, followed by the TMC with Rs 1,610 crore, and the Congress with Rs 1,422 crore in electoral bond funding. Additionally, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Biju Janta Dal received significant amounts of Rs 1,215 crore and Rs 776 crore, respectively.
Among other recipients of electoral bond funds are prominent political parties such as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Shiv Sena, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSR Congress), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Janata Dal (United) (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party (SP), and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
The State Bank of India reported issuing bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore in 30 tranches from April 2019 to February 15, 2024. However, the discrepancy in totals between bond purchases and encashments may be attributed to the list’s cut-off dates, with entries until January 11, 2024, for purchases and January 24, 2024, for encashments.
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