Election Commission Releases New Electoral Bonds Data, Revealing Political Party Funding Details

The Election Commission on Sunday released fresh data on electoral bonds, which had been submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and later ordered to be made public. These details are believed to pertain to the period before April 12, 2019, while electoral bond information after this date was disclosed by the poll panel last week.

Political parties had submitted data on Electoral Bonds in sealed covers as per the Supreme Court's interim order dated April 12, 2019, stated the poll panel in a statement. According to the Election Commission, the data provided by political parties was submitted to the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers.

Photo Credit: PTI

Subsequently, in compliance with the Supreme Court's directive issued on March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court returned physical copies along with a digitized record stored on a pen drive in a sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has now uploaded the digitized data received from the Supreme Court's registry on electoral bonds to its website.

Supreme Court Orders SBI to Disclose Electoral Bond Details to EC

The Supreme Court had previously mandated the State Bank of India (SBI) to reveal the particulars of the bonds to the Election Commission (EC) by the end of business hours on March 12. In a recent petition, the electoral body stated that the apex court, in its March 11 ruling, had noted that "copies of the statements filed by the ECI before this court would be maintained in the office of the ECI."

The application further emphasized that in compliance with the court's directives and to uphold the confidentiality of the aforementioned information/data, the Election Commission of India dispatched the documents it received to the court in sealed covers/boxes, without keeping any copies for itself. Consequently, it affirmed that no duplicates of the documents/statements submitted by the Election Commission of India to the court in the present case were retained by the electoral body.

EC Appeals to SC for Modification of March 11 Order

The Election Commission has petitioned the Supreme Court to amend or revise a segment of its March 11 ruling, seeking the return of documents, data, or information provided to the court in sealed covers. The objective is to facilitate compliance with the court's instructions.

The application emphasized that pursuant to previous orders from the apex court dated April 12, 2019, and November 2, 2023, the EC had furnished the requested information and data in sealed covers and boxes. These submissions comprised 106 sealed envelopes and sealed boxes containing 309 and 214 sealed envelopes, respectively.

On April 12, 2019, the Supreme Court issued an interim directive directing political parties to submit details of donations received and expected to be received to the EC in sealed covers.