Political parties received Rs 12,769 crore through electoral bonds since 2019

New Delhi, March 15 : Political parties received more than Rs 12,769 crore as donations from corporates and individuals through electoral bonds since 2019.

The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday made public the data on electoral bonds provided by the State Bank of India (SBI).

According to the data, political parties encashed a total of 20,421 electoral bonds in the last five years. Of these, 12,207 bonds were of Rs 1 crore each; 5,366 bonds (Rs 10 lakh each); 2,526 (Rs 1 lakh each); 219 bonds (Rs 10,000 each); and 103 were of Rs 1,000 each.

The BJP received maximum Rs 60,60,51,11,000 as donations through electoral bonds, which is almost half of the total amount. The party encashed 5,854 bonds of Rs 1 crore each and 1,994 bonds of Rs 10 lakh each. Apart from bonds of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10,000, it also encashed 31 bonds worth Rs 1000 each.

The Trinamool Congress secured the second spot and redeemed 3,275 electoral bonds worth Rs 16,09,50,14,000, of which 1,467 were of Rs 1 crore each and 1,384 bonds were of Rs 10 lakh each.

As per the data available on the EC’s website, the Congress encashed 3,141 electoral bonds worth Rs 14,21,86,50,000 crore, which included 1,318 bonds of Rs 1 crore each and 958 bonds of Rs 10 lakh each.