Electoral Bonds: BJP got Rs 6060 crore, TMC Rs 1,609 cr & Cong Rs 1421 cr | SBI Data

Rohan Dua

| Updated: 15 March, 2024 12:38 am IST

NEW DELHI: The State Bank of India (SBI) data submitted before the Election Commission of India (ECI) has revealed that the BJP, followed by West Bengal’s regional party Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Congress are the top three receivers of money donated via electoral bonds, among all the parties between 2019 and 2014.

The New Indian team has analysed the data and converted the PDF of SBI data uploaded on the EC website.

According to the SBI data, BJP received Rs 6060.5 crore, making it nearly 47.46 % of the total amount that all parties received via electoral bonds. TMC, which has its presence in West Bengal and Meghalaya alone, was beneficiary of Rs 1609.6 crore. Its party supremo Mamata Banerjee is usually seen in cheap cotton sarees and flip flops.

Congress, which ruled Centre between 1947-2014, several times, following the governance by Gandhi family, managed to receive Rs 1,421 crore despite being out of power since 2014. It’s not clear if the party received this fund following its rule in several states where it was in power after 2019, including Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh, till last year and recently in Himachal Pradesh and Telangana.

Bharat Rashtriya Samithi (BRS), which is facing scrutiny over Delhi excise scam, received Rs 1,214 crore while Odisha’s Biju Janta Dal (BJD) was beneficiary of Rs 775.5 crore.

Bihar’s Rashtriya Janta Dal and Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party received a modicum of Rs 72.5 and Rs 65.4 crore via electoral bonds. While RJD was in power in Bihar till February 2024, AAP has been ruling Punjab and Delhi.

At the bottom of the pyramid is NCP, JKNC, Shiv Sena, RJD and AIADMK, having received a paltry Rs 0.5 crore, Rs 0.5 crore, Rs 1 crore, Rs 1 crore and Rs 6.05 crore respectively.

The electoral bonds data shared by the SBI was uploaded on the official website of the Election Commission a day before the deadline given by the Supreme Court. SC had ordered SBI to upload data by March 15 with 5 pm as the deadline.

The data shared by the poll panel reveals the purchase of now-scrapped electoral bonds of denominations between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore, since April 12, 2019.