BJP gets Rs 2,555 cr in electoral bonds, Congress Rs 318 cr

Rupees 3,427 crore were added to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coffers in 2019-20, of which Rs 2, 555 crore came through poll bonds.  According to data filed with the Election Commission (EC), the BJP pocketed 74% of all electoral bonds sold during the period while the main Opposition, the Congress, got just 9%.

Electoral bonds, meant to anonymously donate money to  political parties, were introduced in 2018. The BJP’s share of voluntary contributions through the electoral bonds has gone up from 21% in 2017-18 to 74% in 2019-20. In absolute terms, the party’s income from bonds has gone up more than ten times during this period, reports The Indian Express.

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The ruling party added Rs 210 crore from bonds out of the total Rs 989 crore it received as voluntary contributions in 2017-18 and Rs 2,555 crore of Rs 3,427 crore it added in 2019-20. The opposition Congress got Rs 383 crore through bonds in 2018-19 and Rs 318 crore through bonds in 2019-20, which is 68% of the total Rs 469 crore that it got as voluntary donations.

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Among the regional parties, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress got Rs 100.46 crore through these bonds in 2019-20, the Nationalist Congress Party collected Rs 29.25 crore, DMK Rs 45 crore, Shiv Sena Rs 41 crore, Rashtriya Janata Dal Rs 2.5 crore, and the Aam Aadmi Party Rs 18 crore.

The BJP currently is the richest party in the country, with total cash of Rs 3,501 crore, a big jump from Rs 1,904 crore in 2019-20, according to the party’s annual audit filed with the EC. In 2019-20, the party purchased land worth Rs 73 crore and buildings worth Rs 59 crore. 

When electoral bonds were issued in 2018, many activists and experts had said that it was a step away from transparency and accountability. They alleged that since the identity of the donor is kept anonymous, it could lead to an influx of black money. 

The matter reached the Supreme Court but the top court refused to stay the sale of electoral bonds.