16

Feb

BJP gets 54 percent of electoral bonds

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Today's Edition

New Delhi, 16 February 2024

Shivaji Sarkar


The Supreme Court landmark ruling scrapping the Electoral Bonds may have serious implications on political party funding on the eve of elections and might affect campaign strategies.
The court ordered State bank of India (SBI), the issuing bank of the bonds go submit details of the political parties that got the electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (EC) by March 6.  The EC was told to publish it on official EC site by March 13 and thereafter refund the bonds amount to the purchasers. In short, it has directed to refund the fundings.
The Court considered electoral bonds violative of the fundamental rights guaranteeing freedom of speech and expression under Article19(1)(a) as also right to information due to its anonymous nature. The petitioner was Association for Democratic Reforms. 
The BJP has its 54 percent earnings from the electoral bonds, according the review of the audited party accounts of the Election Commission. 
 It can hit the smaller parties which survive on pittance including the Congress more. The larger parties do not subsist only one source. They have multiple funds to access and manage their affairs, including managing members of different legislatures. 
The SC striking it down also noted that the introduction of the bonds through a money bill was not lawful. It limits the powers of the Rajya Sabha to discuss it.
The electoral bonds were introduced by the Finance Act 2017 announcing that it could be issued by any scheduled bank for the purpose of electoral funding. Petitions filed before the SC challenged five amendments to different laws trough the Finance Act 2017. Major amendments were to the RBI Act, Income Tax Act and the Representation of People Act.
The SC has said that the bonds have opened doors to unlimited, unchecked funding of political parties. 
The bonds it was repeatedly alleged favoured the ruling party more and majority of the fundings pour in the ruling party’s kitty. 
The review of the audited account of the BJP finds that Rs 1294.14 in 2020-21, or 54 percent of its total income, from electoral bonds. It rose to Rs 1917 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 2361 in 2022-23, a total of Rs 5572.14 crore. 
The BJP’s election expenditure, among others, included Rs 432.14 crore spent on advertisements and Rs 78.22 crore spent on hiring aircraft and helicopters. Another Rs 75.05 crore was given as financial assistance to candidates while press conferences cost Rs 71.60 lakh. 
The party got ₹2,120.06 crore from donations (including electoral bonds), while income from bank interest was ₹237.3 crore, compared to the previous fiscal’s ₹133.3 crore. The party spent ₹1,092.15 crore for elections, which is five times more than what the Congress spent. In 2021-22, the BJP had spent ₹645.85 crore.
The Congress on the other hand saw its total receipts reduce to Rs 541.27 crore in 2021-22. It spent Rs192.55 crore on elections and Rs71.83 crore for Rahul Gandhi’s Kanyakumari to Kashmir “Bharat Jodo Yatra” in 2022-23 while its donations through electoral bonds declined Rs171.02 crore from Rs 236.09 crore in the previous year.
The Congress had questioned the BJP receiving three times more funds than all parties together.

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