ECI releases updated data on political party funding via electoral bonds

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has released data on electoral bonds, following the Supreme Court’s interim order. Political parties submitted data in sealed covers, which the ECI deposited in the Supreme Court without opening. The ECI has now uploaded this digitised data on its website.

The released documents show raw data such as bond dates, denominations, and issuing SBI branches. However, unique bond numbers were not disclosed. Trinamool Congress has requested these unique numbers from SBI to comply with the Supreme Court’s directives, while BJP provided only raw data without such a request.

BSP and CPI(M) have stated they did not receive any donations via electoral bonds. In contrast, the Congress plans to release the raw data given by SBI to the EC. This development comes after the ECI’s release of digitised data from the Supreme Court’s registry on electoral bonds, as per the court’s orders.

The ECI’s transparency in releasing this data reflects a significant step towards addressing the concerns surrounding electoral funding. This move also highlights the various responses from political parties regarding their receipt of donations via electoral bonds. Stay tuned for more updates as the story unfolds.