The Supreme Court’s decision to abolish electoral bonds is likely to have the greatest impact on the BJP, as data shared by the Election Commission show that the party received the most donations between 2016 and 2022.
The party received 60% of all donations thus far, with Congress coming in second. The Supreme Court decided to scrap electoral bonds because it believed they violated the fundamental right to information. The SC-bench, led by DY Chandrachud, argued that these bonds lack transparency, which is crucial for a smooth electoral process.
In all, 28,030 electoral bonds valued at Rs 16,437.63 crore were sold between 2016 and 2022, according to data from the Election Commission. With Rs 10, 122 crore, or almost 60% of the total contributions, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the main beneficiary of these funds.
In contrast, only 10% of all donations during the same period went to the Congress, the main opposition party, which received Rs 1,547 crore. Representing 8% of all electoral bonds, the Trinamool Congress, which is in power in West Bengal, was given Rs 823 crore.
Significant differences in the distribution of contributions were observed when donations made to the BJP through electoral bonds exceeded the total amount of donations received by all other 30 parties on the list.
The donations received by the seven national parties are as follows-
BJP: Rs 10,122 crore Congress: Rs 1,547 crore TMC: Rs 823 crore CPI(M): Rs 367 crore NCP: Rs 231 crore BSP: Rs 85 crore CPI: Rs 13 crore
Furthermore, data from the Election Commission shows that between 2017 and 2022, the BJP received more than five times as much money through electoral bonds as Congress did.
Election bonds were first introduced to reduce black money and increase political donation transparency, but the Supreme Court’s ruling today called the programme’s success into question. The court emphasised that the program’s declared goals fall short of adequately justifying it. It proposed that other strategies would be more effective in achieving the opposition to black money and advancement of transparency.
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