Electoral bonds: EC moves Supreme Court to return sealed cover to help in record keeping

The Election Commission (EC) on Friday, March 15, moved the Supreme Court asking it to return original records on electoral bonds as it does not have a copy of it. The apex court has directed that the sealed cover data be shared with the EC for uploading on its website.

The top court has ordered the registrar to scan and digitse the data by 5 pm on March 16. The original record is to be returned to the EC once the exercise is completed.

The court said a copy of the scanned and digitised file is to be shared with the EC which would publish the data on its website by March 17.

As per the directions from the Supreme Court, the EC had shared donor-wise details of political parties in a sealed cover. The information is as of September 30, 2023, even as the court asked for the data till February 15, 2024.

The data revealed that the biggest donor is a little-known lottery company called Future Gaming and Hotel Services. Future Gaming and Hotel Services purchased possibly the highest amount of bonds worth ₹1,368 crore, followed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd at ₹966 crore.

Enforcement Directorate probed Future Gaming probed in March 2022.

The data only disclosed the amount donated by each entity or individual and not who donated to which party. The ruling BJP received the highest amount of donation followed by the Congress party.

Following a Supreme Court directive, the State Bank of India (SBI), which was the authorised seller of electoral bonds, shared the data with the poll panel on March 12. The top court had given the EC time till 5 pm on March 15 to upload the data on its website.

The EC released the details on 'Disclosure of Electoral Bonds Submitted by SBI' in two parts — one listing the buyers and the other listing the beneficiary parties — on its website a day before the court-mandated deadline.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the SBI said a total of 22,217 electoral bonds of varying denominations were purchased by donors between April 1, 2019, and February 15 this year, out of which 22,030 were redeemed by political parties.