On Sunday, The Election Commission uploaded electoral bonds data received from political parties that it had given to the Supreme Court in sealed covers in November. Political parties had filed data in a sealed cover as directed by the Court’s interim order dated April 12, 2019.
This data includes the date of the bonds, denominations, number of bonds, issuing branch of the State Bank of India, the date of receipt and credit, and the account numbers of the political parties.
Last Thursday, the EC released the data on electoral bonds issued from April 12, 2019, to February 15, 2024. The revelation showed massive fund transactions from private companies to political parties, casting doubt about the intentions. The Bharatiya Janata Party has received Rs 8,252 crore through electoral bonds, nearly half of the total money, according to available data.
The Election Commission approached the Supreme Court asking it to return the data on the preceding period so that it could also be made public.
On Friday, the bench headed by Chandrachud instructed the registrar general to ensure that the data filed by the poll panel is scanned and digitised by 5 pm on Saturday. The original copy was to be returned to the commission once the digitisation process was completed.
