Electoral bonds: All eyes on SBI for Supreme Court hearing on Monday

Even as the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday announced the dates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the data released by the State Bank of India (SBI) last week on electoral bonds appears to be primarily dictating the political narrative right now. The air is thick with anticipation for Monday (March 18), when SBI is expected to appear for a hearing on the orders of the Supreme Court.

Last Friday, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court asked SBI why it did not furnish alphanumeric numbers on the bonds to the EC. This detail will indicate which party received how much money from each donor company or individual. The matter is listed for hearing on March 18.

The Chief Justice of India said: “Why are they not represented today? They should be present in a hearing related to electoral bonds.” The court issued notice to SBI and asked the bank’s lawyers to be present in the court on March 18.

Biggest recipients

On Sunday, the EC disclosed the submissions made by political parties on electoral bonds. The information was provided to the Supreme Court in sealed envelopes, comprising declarations by both recognised national and state parties, and other unrecognised parties, regarding the specifics of bonds they have received.

Meanwhile, the data that has already emerged from SBI’s submissions to the EC have spurred numerous claims and counter-claims. The BJP, which has emerged as the largest recipient of funding via electoral bonds, has been accused of corruption — of providing contracts as quid pro quo for channelling funds to it through electoral bonds.

The party has received nearly Rs 6,985 crore via electoral bonds till date.

FY17-18: Rs 210 Cr

FY18-19: Rs 1,450 Cr

FY19-20: Rs 2,555 Cr

FY20-21: Rs 22 Cr

FY21-22: Rs 1,033 Cr

FY22-23: Rs 1,294 Cr

FY23-24: Rs 421Cr

The Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds, while the TMC raised Rs 1,397 crore. The BRS received Rs 1,322 crore.

Corruption charges

The Congress claims there is a pattern of central probe agencies conducting raids on firms and their subsequent donations to electoral bonds.

Speaking to the media last week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman dismissed such accusations as “assumptions”. “I think you've based yourself on huge assumptions, that the money was given after the Enforcement Directorate raid happened,” she said.

The Congress hit back on this, with party leader Jairam Ramesh tweeting: “If these ‘assumptions’ are untrue, then we invite her to release the full data of who donated how much to which political party. It will put an end to the discussion once and for all.”

Later, addressing a press conference, Ramesh said through the analysis of the electoral bonds data, “four corrupt tactics of the BJP – Chanda Do, Dhandha Lo [give donations, get business], Hafta Vasuli [extortion], Theka Lo-Rishvat Do [get contracts after paying bribe], Farzi Company - Dakait Sangni [loot through shell companies]” – have emerged.

It’s an experiment: RSS arm

The Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), the apex decision-making body of the RSS, said on Sunday the bonds are nothing but “an experiment”.

ABPS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, responding to concerns on the electoral bonds issue and claims that they were purchased to get favours, said the Sangh has not yet discussed the issue, as it is just an "experiment".

"It has been done with checks and balances and it is not that electoral bonds have suddenly been introduced today. It (such a scheme) was brought in earlier also. Whenever a change is introduced, questions are raised. Questions were also raised when the EVMs (electronic voting machines) were introduced," he said.

"It is natural that questions will be raised by people when new things come up. But time will tell how beneficial and effective the new system is. Hence, the Sangh thinks it should be left for experiment," Hosabale said.

Funds for DMK

The data released by the EC on Sunday showed MK Stalin-led DMK received ₹656.5 crore through electoral bonds. Of this, ₹509 crore, or 80 per cent, came from ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin's Future Gaming.

Of the Rs 1,368 crore that the Martin Group has donated till date, the DMK has received 37 per cent.

The DMK was among the few political parties that disclosed the identity of the donors. The major national parties, including the BJP, Congress, TMC, and AAP, have not disclosed these details to the EC.

Most parties received nothing

Meanwhile, it has emerged that while several political parties received donations worth crores of rupees via electoral bonds, there is a vast majority which did not get any money through the now-scraped scheme.

Over 500 recognised and unrecognised political parties had shared details on electoral bonds in sealed covers to the Supreme Court. The data was submitted through the Election Commission and was put in public domain by the poll panel on Sunday.

Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which is a recognised national party, has told the EC it did not receive any funding through electoral bonds since the inception of the scheme. The National People's Party, which rules Meghalaya, is another national party which received no donations through electoral bonds.

Regional parties

National Conference (NC), a recognised state party in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, has disclosed receiving Rs 50 lakh from the Bharti Group through electoral bonds. The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) disclosed it received Rs 50 lakh via electoral bonds from Alambic Pharma.

Left parties, including the CPI, CPI-M, All-India Forward Bloc and CPI-ML, did not receive any electoral bond funding. They said as a matter of principle they refused donations through this route.

Several of the parties which are active in states, such as Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, AIMIM, IAUDF, Zoram People's Movement, Asom Gana Parishad, Bodoland People's Front, Kerala Congress (Mani), late Vijayakanth's DMDK, INLD, Tamil Maanila Congress did not receive donations through poll bonds.

On the other hand, some other smaller regional players such as the Goa Forward Party and MGP received electoral bonds worth Rs 36 lakh and Rs 55 lakh respectively.

According to an earlier report compiled by NGO Association of Democratic Reforms

JD(U)’s submission

Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) said it received Rs 10 crore on April 10, 2019, but is now aware of the donors. “We are not aware about the details of the donors, neither we know nor we tried to know…,” it said. “Somebody came to our office on 03-04-2019 at Patna and handed over a sealed envelope and when it was opened we found a bunch containing 10 Electoral Bonds of Rupees One Crore each.”