Electoral Bonds: DMK, ADMK, JDS, NCP, Who Said What on Donors

A day before the Supreme Court of India hears the State Bank of India's (SBI) response regarding its failure to disclose the unique numbers (alphanumeric code) for each electronic bond purchased and redeemed, the Election Commission of India released the latest data on Sunday, March 17. The data boosts the demand for matching to political parties, with as many as 10 regional parties voluntarily disclosing the names of their contributors.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP in Delhi), Telugu Desam Party (TDP in Andhra Pradesh), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC in West Bengal), Biju Janata Dal (BJD in Odisha), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS— erstwhile TRS in Telangana), Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF in Sikkim), Janata Dal (United) (JD-U in Bihar), and Shiv Sena (undivided in Maharashtra) — were in power during the period between the inception of the electoral bonds scheme in early 2018 and April 12, 2019.

Also Read | ECI releases fresh data on funding to political parties through electoral bonds.

Among all the above parties, TMC and JD(U) said some anonymous persons dropped sealed envelopes in their respective offices in Kolkata and Patna and, therefore, they were unaware of who made the donations. However, JD(U) disclosed the names of donors of Rs 3 crore out of Rs 13 crore it received in April 2019. 

Mamata Banerjee-led TMC did not disclose donors' identities who collectively donated nearly Rs 75 crore through electoral bonds to the party between July 16, 2018, and May 22, 2019.

“Most of these bonds were sent to our office and dropped in the drop box or sent through messengers from various persons who wished to support our party, many of whom prefer to remain anonymous Thus, we are not in the possession of names and other details of the buyers,” TMC said in its submission to EC on May 27, 2019.

“Somebody came to our office on April 3, 2019, in Patna and handed over a sealed envelope. When it was opened, we found a bunch containing 10 electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore each,” JD(U) said on May 30, 2019.

“Neither we knew, nor we tried to know because when we received the bonds, the Supreme Court order was not in existence, and only the Gazette notification of the Govt of India was in operation,” JD(U) Futhere said. The party,  however, disclosed the identities of two donors — Shree Cement Limited, Ajmer (Rajasthan) and Bharti Airtel Limited, Gurgaon (Haryana). 

Maharashtra-based National Congress Party (NCP) disclosed the names of companies who have contributed to their party fund through subscription of electoral Bonds and received funds amounting to Rs 50.51 crore. According to the details submitted by the party, then undivided to the ECI, donors included Cyrus Poonawala, Neotia Foundation, Bharti Airtel, Modern Road Makers Pvt, Bhuta Shah & Co LLP, Avinatsh Bhosle, Vivek Jadhav, Bajaj Finserv, Bhansali Enam, Atul Chordia, United Phosphorus India, Oberoi Realty and Abhay Firodia.

Earlier in its submission to the ECI, the NCP said, "We are unable to furnish detailed particulars of donors against each bond as we neither maintained complete details of the same nor issued any receipts against the Bonds received as initially we were not expected to maintain any details of electoral bearer bonds.

Also Read | Electoral Bonds: BJP Receives Rs 6,986.5 Crore, Future Gaming Emerging As Primary Donor to DMK.

In 2019, before the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP remained the number one recipient of poll bonds since the scheme's inception. The ruling party got donations of Rs 3,941.57 crore between March 2018 and May 22, 2019, according to the latest data released by the body on Sunday. 77.4% of this (Rs 3,050.11 crore) flowed into the party’s account in March, April and May 2019. BJP got money from across the country, with major contributions from Mumbai (Rs 1,493.21 crore), Kolkata (Rs 1,068.91 crore) and New Delhi (666.08 crore).