Ten regional parties, most of whom were in power in their respective states, received a combined donation of about Rs 900 crore through electoral bonds prior to April 12, 2019, the date after which the details of all poll bonds redeemed by political parties were made available earlier this week. On Sunday, the Election Commission made public the data relating to electoral bonds as returned by the Supreme Court registry. Eight of the 10 regional parties — Aam Aadmi Party (AAP in Delhi), Telugu Desam Party (TDP in Andhra Pradesh), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC in West Bengal), Biju Janata Dal (BJD in Odisha), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS— erstwhile TRS in Telangana), Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF in Sikkim), Janata Dal (United) (JD-U in Bihar), and Shiv Sena (undivided in Maharashtra) — were in power during the period between the inception of the electoral bonds scheme in early 2018 and April 12, 2019. The only exceptions were Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh) and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP in Maharashtra). Of these 10 regional parties, the BJD reported receiving the highest amount of Rs 235 crore between July 16, 2018 and April 9, 2019, followed by the BRS, which redeemed electoral bonds worth Rs 192.6 crore between October 11, 2018 and April 10, 2019. Two other parties —YSRCP (Rs 165.8 crore) and TDP (Rs 101.8 crore) — redeemed bonds over Rs 100 crore each before April 12, 2019. The Trinamool Congress encashed bonds worth Rs 98.28 crore between July 16, 2018 and April 11, 2019. The JD(U) reported that it redeemed 10 electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore before April 12, 2019. These bonds were bought from SBI’s Kolkata branch on April 2, 2019. In a letter to the EC on May 30, 2019, the JD(U) wrote, “Somebody came to our office on April 03, 2019 at Patna and handed over a sealed envelope and when it was opened we found a bunch containing 10 electoral bonds of Rs one crore each. As per Gazette Notification of the Govt of India we opened a Account in SBI Main Branch, Patna and deposited it which was credited to our party account on 10.04.2019.” The SDF reported that it redeemed five electoral bonds (each in denomination of Rs 10 lakh) totaling Rs 50 lakh on October 12, 2018. All the five bonds were donated to SDF by Vadodara-based Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd, the party informed the EC. Among other regional parties, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) reported receiving a total of Rs 56 crore through electoral bonds, of which Rs 55 crore came between July 6 and October 13, 2023. The remaining Rs 1 crore was received by the party on April 16, 2019. Similarly, the Samajwadi Party reported a total sum of Rs 14.05 crore as donations through electoral bonds till September 30, 2023. All the SP’s electoral bond donations came after April 18, 2019. This means that the Samajwadi party did not receive any amount through electoral bonds in the period before April 18, 2019. The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference reported that it received only one electoral bond of Rs 50 lakh, which was donated to it by Bharti Group on April 4, 2019. The Shiromani Akali Dal informed the EC that it received Rs 7.26 crore through electoral bonds between April 20, 2019 and January 14, 2022. This means the party received donations through electoral bonds just before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and Assembly elections in 2022. The party did not report redeeming any amount of electoral bonds before April 12, 2019. The Bahujan Samaj Party reported that it had not received any donation through electoral bonds till November 7, 2023.
