More than 695 crore rupees electoral bonds were sold in five states amid assembly elections

From Bhupen Goswami

GUWAHATI : More than Rs 695 crore of disputed and confidential electoral bonds were sold in four states of the country and one Union Territory between the March-April assembly elections. State Bank of India (SBI) has given this information in response to an RTI application. The State Bank of India sold electoral bonds worth Rs 695.34 crore from April 1 to April 10, when elections to the Assemblies of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala were in full swing as per the right to information response by the bank.

 So far, electoral bonds have been sold in a total of 16 phases. As per the information received under RTI, SBI had sold 151 bonds worth a total of Rs 42.10 crore between January 1 and January 10 in the 15th phase. Bihar resident Kanhaiya Kumar had filed an RTI application in this regard on April 16 seeking information on the sale of electoral bonds in the 15th and 16th phases. According to it, SBI sold a total of 974 electoral bonds in the 16th phase between April 1 and April 10, totaling Rs 695.34 crore.The documents also show that the highest number of electoral bonds have been sold from SBI’s Kolkata Main Branch in West Bengal, which has the highest number of assembly elections.

A total of 110 bonds were sold in the 15th phase and 348 bonds in the 16th phase, priced at Rs 35.75 crore and Rs 176.19 crore respectively. Similarly, in the 15th phase, 19 bonds worth Rs 9.10 lakh were sold from Thiruvananthapuram branch of Kerala, 14 bonds worth Rs 5 crore from Jaipur Main Branch and eight bonds worth Rs 1.25 crore from New Delhi Main Branch. SBI has reported that out of the total bonds sold in the 15th phase, all the 148 bonds except three bonds worth Rs 1 lakh have been redeemed. In the same 16th phase, 156 bonds were sold at Chennai Main Branch in Tamil Nadu besides Kolkata, out of which 140 bonds were worth Rs 1 crore and 10 bonds were worth Rs 10 lakh.Meanwhile, a total of 199 bonds were sold in the New Delhi branch, out of which 165 bonds were worth Rs 1 crore, 24 bonds were Worth Rs 10 lakh and 10 bonds were worth Rs 1 lakh. 37 electoral bonds were also sold at Guwahati branch in Assam, one bond of Rs 1 crore, 31 bonds worth Rs 10 lakh and five bonds of Rs 1 lakh. Apart from these branches, Gandhinagar branch sold 24 bonds, Hyderabad Main branch sold 96 bonds, Mumbai branch sold 106 bonds and Panaji branch sold three bonds.

 Data provided by SBI also revealed that all other bonds have been redeemed except two Bonds of Rs 1,000 sold at chennai and mumbai branch. In addition, information received under RTI has also been revealed that in the 15th phase, about 80 per cent of the amount came from a bond of Rs 1 crore, during which 34 bonds worth Rs 1 crore, 78 bonds worth Rs 10 lakh, 29 bonds worth Rs 1 lakh and 10 bonds worth Rs 10 were sold.Similarly, in the 16th phase, about 70 per cent of the amount was received from a bond of one rupee. During this period, 671 bonds worth Rs 1 crore, 237 bonds worth Rs 10 lakh, 64 bonds worth Rs 1 lakh and two bonds worth Rs 1000 were sold.

 It is learnt that the Supreme Court had dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the sale of electoral bonds ahead of the assembly elections. The court had said that since the sale of electoral bonds was allowed in 2018 and 2019 without interference and there is already adequate security in this regard, there is no point in banning electoral bonds at present. The NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had filed a petition demanding it and claimed that there is a serious apprehension that further sale of electoral bonds ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in some states including West Bengal and Assam will further increase the illegal and illegal donation of political parties through “fake companies”.It is learnt that elections were held in three phases in Assam and eight phases in West Bengal from March 27. Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry went to polls in the same phase on the same day on April 6. Why there is a controversy over electoral bonds As per election rules, if a person or institution donates Rs.2,000 or more to a party, the political party has to give full information about the donor. However, the electoral bond has put an end to this hurdle. Now one can donate to parties through electoral bonds ranging from 1,000 to 1 crore rupees and his identity will be completely confidential. On taking donations through this medium, political parties only have to explain how much donation they have received through electoral bonds.Therefore, electoral bonds are considered to be a huge threat to transparency. Since the introduction of the scheme, donations to major political parties from other channels (such as cheques etc.) have declined and donations through electoral bonds are increasing. In 2018-19, the BJP received 60 per cent of the total donations from electoral bonds. This earned the BJP a total of Rs 1,450 crore. In the financial year 2017-2018, the BJP had announced a donation of Rs 210 crore from electoral bonds. The Modi government had amended various laws in 2017 to implement the electoral bond scheme. Working towards electoral reforms, the ADR has challenged these amendments in the Supreme Court. However, the hearing has been postponed continuously for several times. The petition said the amendments have opened the door to unlimited political donations from foreign companies and has given legitimacy to large scale electoral corruption. At the same time, there is complete opacity in such political donations.In 2019, there were several revelations regarding electoral bonds, which revealed that RBI, Election Commission, Law Ministry, RBI Governor, Chief Election Commissioner and several political parties had written to the Central Government objecting to the scheme. However, the Finance Ministry rejected all these objections and passed the electoral bond scheme. In response to a question filed by Bihar-based RTI activist Kanhaiya Kumar on April 16, SBI had refused to divulge information about political parties receiving donations from electoral bonds saying it was a ‘third party personal information’ which was exempted under the RTI Act. It is important to mention here that the Central Government has issued electoral bonds worth Rs.1,000, Rs.10,000, Rs.1 lakh, Rs.10 lakhs and Rs.1 crore to bring transparency in the amount of donations received by political parties. These bonds can be purchased from selected branches of the State Bank. This article contains 12 interesting facts about these electoral bonds. Electoral bonds mean a bond with a value or value written on it like a currency note. This bond; Money can be used by individuals, institutions and organizations to donate money to political parties.