BJP dominated electoral bonds, garnered 95 per cent of total value

New Delhi, Apr 13: The Supreme Court on Friday directed all parties to submit in a sealed cover to the Election Commission (EC) of India details of the amount received through electoral bonds.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) petitioned the Supreme Court challenging the validity of electoral bonds, which allows donors of amounts before Rs 20,000 to remain anonymous.

In the 2017 Union Budget, the government announced an electoral bond scheme that allowed large scale anonymous donations. As a result, more than half of all the income of national parties in India is derived from unknown sources, Association for Democratic Reforms said.

For the six national parties, barring the Communist Party of India (Marxist), 53 per cent of funding was from unknown sources. The amount is approximately Rs 689.44 crore in 2017-18.

Known donors contributed Rs 467.13 crore or 36% of party income. The rest 11% came from other known sources such as sale of assets or membership fees.

The Rs 20,000 or below donor:

A analysis of the donations above Rs 20,000 for national parties suggests that the BJP garnered an incredible 93% share or Rs 437.04 crore in 2017-'18. The Congress came a distant second with Rs 26.66 crore or 5.67% of the total known donations to national parties. While 51% of all unknowns funds were donations below Rs 20,000 (which can be anonymous as per law), as much as 31% were made using the new instrument of electoral bonds.

The BJP dominates electoral bonds, garnering 95% of the total value of bonds purchased in 2017-'18.

What is an electoral bond?

An electoral bond is a promissory note similar to a bank note. It can be purchased from State Bank of India branches in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.

Unusually for an instrument that permits such large amounts, electoral bonds can be anonymous. Individuals and companies can make donations to a party without having their identities disclosed to the Indian voter.

That electoral bonds allow large-scale anonymous donations to parties is seen to be a significant step back in setting up a transparent system of political funding. Former Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla pointed out that the electoral bond scheme has actually emerged as a "greater method of camouflage" when it came to the use of black money in politics.

Electoral bonds have been available since January 2018. Their impact was immediate, pushing up the share of income of national parties for 2017-'18 (even though the bonds had been available for only three months of that financial year).