Daily Briefing: EC releases fresh data on electoral bonds; PM Modi and Chandrababu Naidu’s show of strength in Andhra; and more

With the Supreme Court set to hear the State Bank of India’s response regarding its failure to disclose the unique alphanumeric code for matching electoral bond donors to political parties, the Election Commission of India has lifted another veil of secrecy over political funding by revealing contributions received via bonds by the parties, including voluntary donor details as many as ten regional parties. 

Among those who revealed their donors was DMK. It turns out that the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds, lottery company Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd, which bought bonds worth over Rs 1,300 crore between 2019 and 2024, donated almost 40% of its total purchases to the party.

While the BJP has refrained from disclosing details, fresh data says that the saffron party redeemed over Rs 3,941.57 crore between March 2018 to May 22, 2019. And 77.4% of this (Rs 3,050.11 crore) flowed into the party’s coffers in March, April and May 2019, the three months in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls.

⚡ Only in Express

In the latest Idea Exchange, Indian cricketer R Ashwin speaks on mental-health issues and how the perceptions of him being an ‘over-thinker’ affected his leadership chances: “It’s not like I change my action and if I am leading a side, I will tell Jadeja to change his action…people just assumed that’s how it could be. They thought he would not fit the bill as a leader and that’s an unfair assessment.”

📰 From the Front Page

Nearly a decade after they first shared the stage on 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief K Pawan Kalyan came together for a public meeting at Andhra Pradesh’s Chilakal-uripet. The NDA rally, “Prajagalam”, turned into a massive show of strength by the three parties, which joined forces earlier this month for the Lok Sabha polls.

The Opposition INDIA bloc, too, sounded the bugle for the upcoming elections at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park ground Sunday, targeting the Narendra Modi-government on the upliftment of backward classes, increased vigilance in the use of EVMs, and electoral bonds – the national version of road side “hafta vasooli”.

Five foreign students of Gujarat University were injured after a group of 20-25 people barged into their hostel and assaulted them for offering namaz during Ramzan in the hostel building on Saturday night. While 2 assailants have been arrested, the police say an FIR has been lodged and investigations are on to identify the rest. 

👩‍💻 Must Read

Decision 2024: Regional parties across the country have had to choose between either tying up with the BJP or if ideologically opposed to it, choosing the Congress corner. Several, though, have found safety in staying in the middle, while leaning more towards the dominant BJP at the Centre. We take a look at how these parties are placed as Lok Sabha elections approach.

While text-based generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Gemini have caught the fancy of people, companies and researchers around the world are increasingly relying on generative AI for purposes including oil exploration, drug discovery and worker safety, among others. How are these companies using their own historical data as fodder for generative AI tools to predict things, we explain.

In today’s Opinion piece, Leher Kala discusses the splashy three-day, pre-nuptial extravaganza of the Ambanis witnessed in Jamnagar. “Rich people flashing their bucks aren’t easy to like but the Ambanis enjoy goodwill from all us strangers because everyone feels they’ve been taken along for the ride,” she writes. 

⌛ And Finally…

‘Shock training’ to make jump smashes more lethal, rope climbing for shoulder strength and legendary Prakash Padukone demanding he improve strength and stamina helped Lakshya Sen rediscover his form. We trace the comeback story of the badminton player who clocks better yo-yo test scores than Virat Kohli’s. 

Delhi Confidential: BJP may be upbeat about its prospects for a hat-trick in the Lok Sabha elections, but in Haryana, where it recently replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the CM, the party seems to be struggling to find the right candidates for all 10 Lok Sabha segments.

In today’s 3 Things Podcast we speak about the data revealed regarding the electoral bonds, the Agni-5 missile and the Enforcement Directorate sending CM Kejriwal summons related to a new case.

Until tomorrow,

Ayesha Jain and Aradhana Kalia

Business As Usual By Unny