Three national parties and 22 regional parties generated more than 50 per cent of their income through the electoral bonds in 2018-19. A total of Rs 587.87 crore of the income declared by these parties to the Election Commission (EC) came through electoral bonds which are anonymous and the identity of their donors are not disclosed to the public.
According to the EC, the total income declared by the parties was Rs 1,163.17 crore. These parties collected Rs 893.60 crore or 76.82 per cent of their total income from voluntary contributions, including donations and contributions and electoral bonds in 2018-19. The audit reports of the remaining five national parties, including the BJP and the Congress, and 30 regional parties were not available on the website of the Commission till the preparation of the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The last date for submission of of annual audited accounts for the parties was October 31, 2019. It is estimated that electoral bonds worth Rs 2,540 crore were redeemed by parties in 2018-19, indicating that it is likely that the remaining Rs 1,952 crore worth electoral bonds were encashed by parties whose audit reports are not available on the ECI website.
The ruling BJP has been the biggest beneficiary of electoral bonds garnering 94.5 per cent of the bonds worth around Rs 210 crore in 2018. The issue of electoral bonds came under the spotlight after a report indicated earlier this week that RBI had repeatedly warned the Government that the electoral bond scheme would lead to money laundering. However, the Government ignored the warnings and went ahead with the scheme. With the introduction of electoral bonds scheme, any Indian citizen, corporate or other entity such as trusts or NGOs are allowed to buy bonds from SBI branches and donate them to political parties. The issue was rocked in the ongoing Parliament Winter Session this week as the Opposition, including the Congress, alleged the ruling BJP as a biggest beneficiary of the scheme.
As per an analysis of the parties’ audit reports carried out by ADR, under voluntary contributions, the parties collected 50.54 per cent or Rs 587.87 crore of their income from donations through electoral bonds while other donations and contributions amounted to Rs 305.73 crore or 26.28 per cent in 2018-19. The three national parties that submitted their details are Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Bahujan Samaj Party.
However, of the three national parties analysed, only Trinamool Congress declared receiving donations through electoral bonds, amounting to Rs 97.28 crore. Only five of the 22 regional parties that were analysed declared donations through bonds, the amount being Rs 490.59 crore.
The ADR stated that given the anonymity provided to donors by the scheme, it is seen that electoral bonds have emerged as the most common and popular channel of donations to national and regional parties for 2018-19. A total of 12.13 per cent or Rs 141.038 crore of the total income was generated through membership and subscriptions fees by these parties.
The BJD reported the highest income of Rs 249.31 crore, which was 21.43 per cent of the total income of all parties analysed. The Trinamool declared an income of Rs 192.65 crore or 16.56 per cent, while the TRS stated it got Rs 88.71 crore or 16.22 per cent of the total income of all parties.
The total income of the top three parties was Rs 630.67 crore, which comprised 54.22 per cent of the total income of the parties.
Out of a total of 25 parties analysed, 17 parties have shown an increase in their income from 2017-18 to 2018-19, while six parties have shown a decline in their income during this period.
The BJD reported the highest increase in its income of Rs 235.19 crore, followed by Trinamool Congress and YSR-Congress, which declared a total increase of Rs 187.48 crore and Rs 166.84 crore, respectively, between 2017-18 and 2018-19.
According to the scheme that was notified by the Government of India on January 2, 2018, only the parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which have secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the Lok Sabha or the Legislative Assembly, as the case may be, are eligible to receive electoral bonds.