Parties raise 542 crore via electoral bonds ahead of state polls: RTI

As Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat head to Assembly elections, parties have received Rs 542.25 crore through the sale of electoral bonds earlier this month during the latest edition of the financial instrument.

While 741 electoral bonds worth 545.25 crore were sold by the SBI during the 22nd edition of sale between October 1 and 10, parties encashed 738 bonds worth Rs 542.25 crore within the stipulated period. In the previous sale in July this year, electoral bonds worth Rs 389.50 crore were sold.

Since 2018 when the electoral bond came into being, there were 22 phases of sales, including the latest, during which bonds worth Rs 10,791.47 crore have been sold while Rs 10,767.88 crore were encashed. The bonds which were not encashed was Rs 23.59 crore and were transferred to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

Read | 95% donations from electoral bonds going to BJP: Gehlot

According to the RTI response provided by the SBI to transparency activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired) on Saturday, Hyderabad branch of the SBI recorded the highest sale of bonds worth Rs 117 crore followed by Chennai branch 115.crore.

Bonds were also sold in Gandhi Nagar (Rs 81.50 crore), Delhi (Rs 75.70 crore), Kolkata (Rs 76.10 crore), Mumbai (Rs 40.25 crore), Jaipur Rs (15.70 crore), Chandigarh (Rs 8 crore), Lucknow (Rs 8 crore) and Bengaluru (Rs 6 crore).

When it came to encashing the bonds, Delhi (Rs 285.15 crore) topped the list followed by Kolkata (Rs 143.10 crore) and Hyderabad (Rs 67 crore). Bonds were also encashed from SBI branches in Gangtok (Rs 2 crore), Chennai (Rs 10 crore) and Bhubaneswar (Rs 35 crore).

In its reply to Batra, the SBI also said that 25 political parties have opened their account for the purpose of encashing electoral bonds till date. Accounts are being opened at branches after obtaining proper approval, it said.

Amid questions about the legality of the electoral bonds, the Supreme Court is scheduled to further hear the petition on December 6 challenging the provisions of the Finance Act 2017 that introduced electoral bonds.

According to a previous RTI in July, the SBI has raised a commission bill of Rs 25.44 lakh excluding GST. It said it is yet to get Rs 42.30 crore for the 20th phase of bond sale. The SBI has asked the Ministry of Finance to arrange the release of the total pending commission of Rs 67.74 crore along with GST.

In the 20th edition of bond sale between April 1 and 10, electoral bonds worth Rs 648.48 crore were sold and whole redeemed by parties. In the 19th edition of bond sale between January 1 and 10, ahead of the Assembly elections to five states -- Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Punjab -- electoral bonds worth Rs 1,213.26 crore were sold and whole redeemed by parties except for bonds worth Rs 40 lakh.

In the previous 18th phase in October last year, bonds worth Rs 614.33 crore were sold and the whole redeemed. In July when 17th phase of bond sale took place, Rs 150.51 crore were sold and the whole redeemed. In April, bonds worth Rs 695.34 crore were sold and only two bonds worth Rs 1,000 each were not redeemed.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) reported that in 2019-20, four national parties -- BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress and NCP -- and 14 regional parties together garnered Rs 3,441.31 crore through electoral bonds.

According to ADR, 62.92 per cent (Rs 2,993.82 crore) of the total income of the four national parties came from donations through electoral bonds. Ruling BJP's income rose by 50.34 per cent to Rs 3,623.28 crore in 2019-20 with the bulk coming from redemption of electoral bonds while three other national parties CPI(M), CPI and BSP did not receive any donation through electoral bonds.