NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) released the electoral bond details provided by the State Bank of India (SBI) on its official website on Thursday, just one day before the Supreme Court's deadline and two days before the ECI announced the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha and several assembly elections. Following the Supreme Court's instructions, SBI submitted the information to the ECI on March 12 and filed an affidavit about it with the court on March 13. The court had given the ECI until March 15 to upload the data on its website.

According to the affidavit, SBI reported that between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2024, a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased in various denominations. Of these, 22,030 bonds, totalling Rs.12,769.40 crore, were redeemed by political parties. The Supreme Court had mandated that SBI provide these details to the ECI by March 12 or face possible contempt charges. As a result, the court allowed the ECI until 5 pm on March 15 to post the data online. The information released by the ECI spans hundreds of pages and was published in two sections: one detailing the buyers and the other the recipient parties.

Electoral bonds, a major method for political funding, allow donors to contribute anonymously through certificates bought from SBI. However, on February 15, a five-judge Constitution Bench ruled the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional, arguing that it infringed on voters' right to know the sources of party funding. The court also invalidated amendments to the Income Tax Act and the Representation of the People Act that enabled anonymous donations.

The disclosure highlighted the significant beneficiaries of these bonds from April 2019 to January 2024. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the largest recipient, obtaining nearly 48 per cent of the bonds redeemed by parties up to March 2023, totalling around Rs.6,060 crore. The Trinamool Congress followed with Rs.1,609.50 crore (12.6 per cent), while the Congress received approximately Rs.1,421 crore (11 per cent).

Other notable recipients included the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) with Rs.1,214 crore, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) with Rs.775 crore, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) with Rs.639 crore. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received Rs.66 crore and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Rs.6.05 crore. Notably, Communist parties were not listed among the beneficiaries.