Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: BJP got ₹6,986.5 cr through electoral bonds; Future Gaming top donor for DMK

Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Sunday welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict on electoral bonds and said that BJP should explain the profits they gained through it.

He also demanded that the accounts of the BJP ‘should be seized.’

“The decision of the Supreme Court is welcomed. The BJP should clarify how much they have earned through this scam. The accounts of the Congress party are being seized but the Income Tax is not taking action against the BJP for earning thousands of crores through illegal bonds,” he said while speaking to the media in Mumbai. (ANI)

Top purchaser of electoral bonds Future Gaming and Hotel Services donated ₹509 crore to Tamil Nadu’s ruling party DMK through the now-scrapped payment mode, the Election Commission’s data showed on Sunday.

The donations given by Future Gaming, whose owner, “lottery king” Santiago Martin, has been under the scanner of Enforcement Directorate (ED), accounted for more than 77 per cent of the total receipts from electoral bonds of ₹656.5 crore disclosed by the DMK.

Since most political parties have not fully disclosed the names of the donors, it was not known who were the beneficiaries of the balance ₹859 crore worth bonds purchased by Future Gaming. (PTI)

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Sunday said the electoral bonds is an “experiment” and time will tell how beneficial and effective it has been. 

Asked about concerns being raised on the electoral bonds issue and claims that they were purchased to get favours, Hosabale said the Sangh has not yet discussed about it as the electoral bonds is an “experiment”.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has declared that it will not receive funds through electoral bonds, while the filings made by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) showed nil receipts through electoral bonds.

The Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) has told the Election Commission that someone delivered to its office an envelope with electoral bonds worth ₹10 crore way back in 2019, which it encashed within days but has got no information on the donors.  

The party also disclosed the names of Bharti Airtel and Shree Cement as its donors for bonds with ₹1 crore and ₹2 crore, respectively.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh big companies were made to pay hefty donations to the BJP to get big contracts later, while several companies were “forced” to pay up after probe agencies like the ED, the Income Tax and the CBI were let loose on them.

He cited the example of Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals, claiming it faced an ED probe after which it purchased the electoral bonds.

While the AAP did not give a cumulative figure of its donations, the SBI’s data showed it had received ₹65.45 crore, while it is estimated to have received another ₹3.55 crore after its filing with the EC, taking its total to ₹69 crore (PTI)

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday described the electoral bonds as “white collar corruption” of the ruling BJP and said the opposition bloc INDIA will form a secular, federal and inclusive government at the Centre.

The DMK chief said since the opposition named its bloc INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), the BJP has stopped using the word ‘India’.

“This is fear. PM Modi has started defaming us as corrupt, but electoral bonds proved that BJP is corrupt. It’s white collar corruption of the BJP,” said Stalin. (PTI)

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that several shell companies have purchased electoral bonds worth much more than their net worth.

“Since 2018, at least 43 companies that were newly incorporated, in 2018 or later, bought electoral bonds within months of their incorporation.

“Their ‘donations’ amounted to a total of 384.5 crore. Most of these are likely shell corporations, set up with the sole purpose of making electoral bond donations, or other such underhand dealings,” he alleged on X.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were answerable on the electoral bond “scam”. (PTI)

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: The Congress on Sunday attacked the government for using the SBI electoral bonds scheme to divert black money to its accounts. 

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were answerable on the electoral bond “scam”.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: The Election Commission of India on Sunday released a fresh set of data on the use of electoral bonds to fund political parties in India. According to the new list, of a total ₹6,986.5 crore donations made to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) through electoral bonds, ₹2,555 crore was made during the financial year 2019-20. Whereas, the Indian National Congress (INC) redeemed a total of ₹1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds. (Read full story)

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: The Bahujan Samaj Party didn’t receive any donations through the SBI electoral bonds scheme, introduced by the Modi government years ago. Apart from BSP, Communist Party of India (CPI), and Communist Party of India (Marxist), have also not received any donations through the scheme. (Read full story)

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: The Election Commission of India on Sunday released the second set of SBI electoral bonds data revealing the donations received by political parties during 2018-19. During the period, the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the biggest donor, followed by the TMC. (Read full list of parties and their donations.)

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: In the second list of the SBI electoral bonds released by the Election Commission, Lottery King of India, Santiago Martin, emerged as the biggest purchaser of SBI electoral bonds. Martin had bought a whopping Rs 1,368 crore of the bonds issued between April 2019 and January of this year, or around 11 per cent of the total electoral bonds sold in five years. (Read full story)

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference said that the party didn’t receive any donations through electoral bonds  for the period from March 2018  to April 2019.  

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: Andhra Pradesh’s ruling party YSR Congress redeemed bonds worth nearly ₹442.8 crore.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: According to the second list of SBI electoral bonds data released by the Election Commission on Sunday, March 17, there was no donations made to Asaduddin Owaisi’s  All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen through the scheme.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: Unlike Congress, BJP, TMC and AAP, DMK is among a few parties who have voluntarily disclosed the identity of their donors. Whereas, most of the parties refrained from disclosing these details to the Election Commission.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: The Janata Dal (Secular), JDS, received a total of Rs 89.75 crore through Electoral bonds, including ₹50 crore from Megha Engineering, the second largest purchaser of electoral bonds.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: Odisha’s ruling party, Biju Janata Dal, encashed bonds worth ₹944.5 crore followed by DMK at ₹656.5 crore.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: Mamata Banerjee’s party encashed the second largest amount of donations before 2019 according to the data released by the EC. (Click to read more)

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: The electoral bonds data released by the Election Commission is believed to be of  the period before April 12, 2019. Electoral bond details after this date was made public by the poll panel last week.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: Congress redeemed a total of ₹1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds, according to EC data.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: The sealed cover data of electoral bonds for the period March 2018 – April 2019 made public by ECI includes the donation amount to the parties, but it doesn’t include the names of the donors. Hence, there is no information about who donated how much to the BJP and other parties. However, a few parties have voluntarily disclosed the names of their donors.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: Trinamool Congress has emerged as the second largest recipient of donations through the SBI electoral bonds scheme. TMC has earned a total of  ₹1397 crore donations, whereas K Chandrashekar Rao’s BRS is the fourth largest recipient after BJP, Trinamool and Congress.

Electoral Bonds data 2nd list LIVE: K. Chandrashekar Rao’s BRS has emerged as the fourth largest recipient through electoral bonds. The party has encashed worth Rs 1,322 crore.

Electoral bonds data LIVE updates: SP got ₹14.05 crore via electoral bonds, Akali Dal ₹7.26 crore, AIADMK ₹6.05 crore, National Conference ₹50 lakh, says EC data.

According to the latest data released by EC on electoral bonds, Congress redeemed a total of ₹1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds

The latest data released by Election Commission revealed Biju Janata Dal encashed electoral bonds worth ₹944.5 crore, while YSR Congress got ₹442.8 crore, TDP ₹181.35 crore. 

According to the latest data released by EC on electoral bonds, DMK received a total of ₹656.5 crore, including ₹509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming

Meanwhile, political parties like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) had said that they didn’t get donations via electoral bonds.

The EC released the data a day after it announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections that will take place in seven phases from April 19 to June 1.

“Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court’s order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website,” EC said.