New Delhi: Political parties received more than Rs 12,769 crore as donations from corporates and individuals through electoral bonds since 2019.
The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday made public the data on electoral bonds provided by the State Bank of India (SBI).
According to the data, political parties encashed a total of 20,421 electoral bonds in the last five years. Of these, 12,207 bonds were of Rs 1 crore each; 5,366 bonds (Rs 10 lakh each); 2,526 (Rs 1 lakh each); 219 bonds (Rs 10,000 each); and 103 were of Rs 1,000 each.
The BJP took the lead and received a maximum of Rs 60,60,51,11,000 as donations through electoral bonds, which is almost half of the total amount.
The party encashed 5,854 bonds of Rs 1 crore each and 1,994 bonds of Rs 10 lakh each. Apart from bonds of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10,000, it also encashed 31 bonds worth Rs 1000 each.
The Trinamool Congress secured the second spot and redeemed 3,275 electoral bonds worth Rs 16,09,50,14,000, of which 1,467 were of Rs 1 crore each and 1,384 bonds were of Rs 10 lakh each.
As per the data available on the EC’s website, the Congress encashed 3,141 electoral bonds worth Rs 14,21,86,50,000 crore, which included 1,318 bonds of Rs 1 crore each and 958 bonds of Rs 10 lakh each.
Following is a list of donations received by each political party through electoral bonds.
| Political Party | Electoral Bonds (in crores) | Percentage |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 6,060.50 | 47.46 |
| Trinamool Congress | 1,609.50 | 12.60 |
| Congress | 1,421.90 | 11.14 |
| Bharat Rashtra Samithi | 1,214.70 | 9.51 |
| Biju Janata Dal | 775.50 | 6.07 |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 639.00 | 5.00 |
| YSR Congress Party | 337.00 | 2.64 |
| Telugu Desam Party | 218.90 | 1.71 |
| Shivsena | 159.40 | 1.24 |
| Rashtriya Janata Dal | 72.50 | 0.57 |
| Aam Aadmi Party | 65.50 | 0.51 |
| Janata Dal (Secular) | 43.50 | 0.34 |
| Sikkim Krantikari Morcha | 36.50 | 0.29 |
| Nationalist Congress Party | 30.50 | 0.24 |
| Janasena Party | 21.00 | 0.16 |
| Samajwadi Party | 14.10 | 0.11 |
| Janata Dal(United) | 14.00 | 0.11 |
| Jharkhand Mukti Morcha | 13.50 | 0.11 |
| Shiromani Akali Dal | 7.30 | 0.06 |
| All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 6.10 | 0.05 |
| Sikkim Democratic Front | 5.50 | 0.04 |
| Rashtriya Janta Dal | 1.00 | 0.01 |
| Maharashtrawadi Gomntak Party | 0.60 | 0.01 |
| Jammu And Kashmir National Conference | 0.50 | 0.00 |
| Nationalist Congress Party Maharashtra Pradesh | 0.50 | 0.00 |
| Goa Forward Party | 0.40 | 0.00 |
According to the data uploaded by the poll panel, the buyers of electoral bonds include Grasim Industries, Megha Engineering, Piramal Enterprises, Torrent Power, Bharti Airtel, DLF Commercial Developers, Vedanta Ltd., Apollo Tyres, Lakshmi Mittal, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wine, Welspun, and Sun Pharma.
Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited, a little-known company with a registered address at Navi Mumbai’s Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and having links to Reliance Industries, was the third largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds.
It bought Rs 410 crore of electoral bonds between financial years 2021-22 and 2023-24 but Reliance said the company is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity.
Electoral bond purchases and donations by Qwik Supply were behind Rs 1,368 crore of Future Gaming and Hotel Services – another little-known lottery company – and Rs 966 crore of Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infra, according to information uploaded by the Election Commission on its website.
