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New Delhi, Ahead of assembly elections in five states, the government on Saturday approved the issuance of 29th tranche of <keyword id="4127459" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="electoral-bonds" source="Orion">electoral bonds</keyword> that will open for sale on November 6. The decision comes amid campaigning for assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. Elections in these states span from November 7-30. Counting of votes will be done on December 3. <keyword id="4127459" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="electoral-bonds" source="Orion">Electoral bonds</keyword> have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding. "Government of India has authorised <keyword id="6354731" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india" source="Orion">State Bank of India</keyword> (<keyword id="13222" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sbi" source="Orion">SBI</keyword>), in the <keyword id="19385144" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="xxix-phase" source="Orion">XXIX Phase</keyword> of sale, to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorised Branches w.e.f. November 6-20, 2023," the <keyword id="47209" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="finance-ministry" source="Orion">finance ministry</keyword> said in a statement. The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened in March 2018. Electoral bonds are encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank. <keyword id="13222" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sbi" source="Orion">SBI</keyword> is the only authorised bank to issue electoral bonds. The authorised SBI branches include those in Bengaluru, Lucknow, Shimla, Dehradun, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Raipur, and Mumbai. The <keyword id="47209" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="finance-ministry" source="Orion">finance ministry</keyword> further said electoral bonds will be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment will be made to any payee political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. "The electoral bond deposited by an eligible political party in its account shall be credited on the same day," it added. Electoral bonds can be purchased by Indian citizens or entities incorporated or established in the country. Registered political parties that have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in last <keyword id="6355187" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="lok-sabha" source="Orion">Lok Sabha</keyword> or legislative assembly elections are eligible to receive funding through electoral bonds, it said.

Govt approves 29th tranche of electoral bonds; sale from Nov 6

New Delhi, The BJP, the biggest beneficiary of electoral bonds with donations worth over Rs 6,000 crore in the last four years of the scheme, got funds from several corporates and individuals, including Megha Engineering, Future Gaming, and Reliance-linked <keyword id="21044437" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="qwik-supply" source="keywords">Qwik Supply</keyword>. Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering, which won several contracts for infrastructure projects, donated Rs 584 crore to the BJP, <keyword id="21047704" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="qwik-supply-rs" source="keywords">Qwik Supply Rs</keyword> 395 crore, and Future Gaming Rs 100 crore, according to data released by the Election Commission on Thursday. The BJP also got Rs 346 crore from Keventers Food Park, MKJ Enterprises and Madanlal Ltd -- three firms with the same <keyword id="19896626" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kolkata" source="keywords">Kolkata</keyword> address, Vedanata contributed Rs 226 crore, and Haldia Energy Rs 81 crore. <keyword id="19919721" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vedanta" source="keywords">Vedanta</keyword> was also a key contributor to the Congress with donations worth Rs 125 crore. The opposition party also received funds from <keyword id="21047706" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="western-up-power-and-transmission" source="keywords">Western UP Power and Transmission</keyword>, MKJ Enterprises and Yashoda Super Speciality Hospitals. The BJP also got donations worth Rs 80 crore from <keyword id="21047705" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="western-up-power-and-transmission-company" source="keywords">Western UP Power and Transmission Company</keyword>, and Rs 42 crore from Welspun. Industrialist Lakshmi Mittal donated Rs 35 crore to the BJP in individual capacity, while several other individuals donated funds in the range of Rs 10-25 crore to the ruling party. The Election Commission made public a fresh data set of electoral bonds, including their alpha-numeric numbers that can help match their purchasers with the political parties that received the funds. Two separate lists of the donors and the recipients were published by the poll panel on its website after the details were submitted to it by the State Bank of India earlier in the day as per a Supreme Court order.

Electoral bonds: Megha Engineering, Qwik Supply big donors for BJP

New Delhi, Several political parties declined to share details of electoral bond donors citing various legal provisions, while others said they received the funding instruments through "drop box" or by post without any name. The DMK, which received most of its donations from a lottery firm, reached out to its donors to seek details of the electoral bonds as demanded by the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> in 2019. The BJP cited the amendments to the Representation of People Act, 1951 and the relevant portions of the Reserve Bank of India Act and the Income Tax Act for not revealing its donors. "It is duly submitted that the electoral bonds were introduced with the aim of bringing only accounted for funds in political funding while protecting the donors from any consequences, therefrom," the BJP said in its letter to the <keyword id="19895782" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="election-commission" source="keywords">Election Commission</keyword>. The <keyword id="19895371" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="congress" source="keywords">Congress</keyword> shot off a letter to the <keyword id="19934368" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india" source="keywords">State Bank of India</keyword> (SBI) seeking details of donors of electoral bonds, the amount, the bank account in which it was credited and the date. The SBI responded to the Congress that the details of the electoral bonds were available with the political parties and shared the statement of the bank account which was shared with the Commission. The Samajwadi Party shared details of bonds of relatively smaller amounts of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, but merely mentioned that 10 bonds of Rs 1 crore each were received by post without any name. The DMK, which received almost 77 per cent of its funds from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming, said it had reached out to the donors of the party to get details of the donations they had made. "The scheme also does not require the details of the donor to be furnished to the donee. ... Be that as it may, following the directions of Hon'ble Supreme Court, we contacted our donors and we were able to collect the details from them," the DMK said. The <keyword id="19910625" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="telugu-desam-party" source="keywords">Telugu Desam Party</keyword> mentioned "not readily available" in the column for listing out the names of donors. The <keyword id="19968095" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trinamool-congress" source="keywords">Trinamool Congress</keyword> said the electoral bonds were sent to the party office and were "dropped in the drop box". The party said some bonds were sent through messengers from various persons who wished to support the party, many of whom prefer to remain anonymous. The NCP, then led by Sharad Pawar, expressed inability to furnish details of donors against each bond as the party had not maintained details or issued any receipts. The letter by the NCP to the Election Commission said several of its office-bearers were busy with the election campaign. "Wherever possible we have indicated the name of the person through whom bonds were received by the party," the NCP said. The Goa unit of the Congress reached out to its donor V M Salgaonkar and Brothers to get details of the electoral bonds worth Rs 30 lakh given by them to the party. The RJD said the details about donations worth Rs 1.5 crore were not readily available. The Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) has told the Election Commission that someone delivered to its office an envelope with electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore in 2019, which were redeemed by the party.

Electoral bonds dropped at office, received by post, say political parties

New Delhi, The <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> on Thursday struck down the electoral bond scheme, saying it violates the right to information and the freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution. In a landmark judgement that will have wide ramifications, it ordered the <keyword id="19934368" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india" source="keywords">State Bank of India</keyword> to disclose to the <keyword id="19895782" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="election-commission" source="keywords">Election Commission</keyword> the names of the contributors to the six-year-old scheme. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice <keyword id="19936357" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="d-y-chandrachud" source="keywords">D Y Chandrachud</keyword> delivered two separate and unanimous verdicts on the pleas challenging the scheme, delivering a major blow to the central government. Pronouncing the verdict, the CJI said the scheme is violative of freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of Constitution. The bench said the fundamental right to privacy also includes citizens' right to political privacy and affiliation. It also held as invalid the amendments made in various laws, including the <keyword id="20592932" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="representation-of-peoples-act" source="keywords">Representation of Peoples Act</keyword> and the Income Tax laws. It directed that the issuing bank shall stop issuance of electoral bonds and the State Bank of India shall submit details of electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 till date to the Election Commission. The top court had on November 2 last year reserved its verdict in the matter. The scheme, which was notified by the government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding. According to the provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by any citizen of India or entity incorporated or established in the country. An individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals without disclosing the identity. Critics have said this eliminates transparency in electoral funding and gives an edge to the ruling parties.

SC strikes down electoral bond scheme, terms it unconstitutional

New Delhi, A petition has been filed in the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> seeking contempt action against the <keyword id="19934368" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india" source="keywords">State Bank of India</keyword> (SBI) alleging it "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit details of contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 6. The plea, filed by two NGOs, claimed SBI's application seeking extension of time till June 30 to disclose the details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties has been deliberately filed at the last moment to ensure that details of donor and the amount of donations are not disclosed to the public before the upcoming <keyword id="19895394" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lok-sabha" source="keywords">Lok Sabha</keyword> elections. A bench headed by Chief Justice <keyword id="19936357" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="d-y-chandrachud" source="keywords">D Y Chandrachud</keyword> on Thursday took note of the submissions by advocate <keyword id="20027334" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prashant-bhushan" source="keywords">Prashant Bhushan</keyword>, who appeared on behalf of NGOs Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause, that he wanted initiation of contempt proceedings against the SBI. Bhushan said the SBI's application is likely to be listed on March 11 and the contempt application should also be heard together with it. "Please send an e-mail. I will pass the order," the CJI said. The SBI moved the top court on March 4 seeking extension of time till June 30 to disclose the details of the electoral bonds that were encashed. In a landmark verdict on February 15, a five-judge constitution bench of the apex court had scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordering disclosure by the Election Commission of the donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients by March 13. Ordering closure of the scheme forthwith, the top court had directed the SBI, the authorised financial institution under the scheme, to submit by March 6 the details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 till date to Election Commission (EC), which will publish the information on its official website by March 13. In the contempt plea, the NGOs have said that two days before the expiry of the stated deadline, the SBI has filed an application seeking time till June 30 to comply with the directions. "It is submitted that the said application is mala fide and demonstrates a wilful and deliberate disobedience &amp; defiance of the judgement passed by the constitution bench of this court. It is further a clear attempt to undermine the authority of this court," it said. "The petitioner herein is filing the instant petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against State Bank of India for wilfully and deliberately disobeying the order dated February 15 passed by this court... wherein this court directed SBI to submit details of contribution made to the political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India by March 6," it said. It said the affidavit supporting the SBI's application has neither been sworn by the chairman or the managing director of the bank. It said SBI has the record of the unique number allotted to each electoral bond and the know your customer (KYC) details of its purchaser. "The requirement of the KYC is mentioned in section 4 of the EB scheme itself, therefore, the SBI is well aware of the identity of purchasers of each electoral bond," the plea said. It said as per clause 7 of the electoral bond scheme, information furnished by the buyer can be disclosed when demanded by a competent court. "As per clause 12 (4) of the scheme, electoral bonds have to be encashed within fifteen days failing which the amount of bonds not encashed are to be deposited by the bank to the PM relief Fund. Thus, it is inconceivable that SBI does not have the recorded information readily available within its data base," it said. The plea said electoral bonds are "completely traceable" which is evident from the fact that SBI maintains a secret number-based record of donors who buy bonds, and the political parties they donate to. It said as per information received through RTI, in 30 phases of electoral bonds sale, only 19 out of 29 SBI authorised branches sold electoral bonds and 14 SBI branches encashed them. "The data available as on January 2024 further shows that only 25 political parties had opened their account and are eligible for encashing electoral bonds. Therefore, compiling of this information should not be difficult as the system is already in place," it said. "It is mandatory that SBI furnishes all information relating to electoral bonds within stipulated time frame given by this court as voters will not be able to exercise their informed opinion properly during Lok Sabha 2024 if complete information about EBs is not shared with them," it said. The plea said any form of anonymity in the finances of political parties goes against the essence of participatory democracy and people's right to know enshrined under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. It said availability of information about electoral bonds will give voters a chance to truly inspect, express and decide their choices. "This defiant approach of the SBI towards citizen's 'right to know' about huge sums of money received by parties through electoral bonds and corporates in a non-transparent and unaccountable manner is reprehensible and betrays its clear motive to stifle citizen's voice and right to audit actions of the political class, and therefore it should be held as serious breach of contempt by this court," it alleged.

Electoral bonds: Plea seeks contempt action against SBI for disobeying SC's order

New Delhi, About 82 per cent of the total income from unknown sources declared by national political parties in 2022-23 came from electoral bonds, according to a poll rights body. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) also said that the analysis of the national parties' audit reports and donation statements filed with the Election Commission (EC) shows that the sources remain largely unknown. Out of the Rs 1,832.88 crore as income from unknown sources, the share of income from electoral bonds was Rs 1,510 crore or 82.42 per cent, according to the analysis of the financial reports for the fiscal year 2022-23 submitted to the poll panel, it stated. For this study, six national parties were considered -- the <keyword id="19931558" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharatiya-janata-party" source="keywords">Bharatiya Janata Party</keyword> (BJP), the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the National People's Party (<keyword id="20864989" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="npep" source="keywords">NPEP</keyword>). The BJP declared the highest income from unknown sources among the national parties at Rs 1,400 crore or 76.39 per cent of the total amount. The Congress declared an amount of Rs 315.11 crore (17.19 per cent). The BSP has declared that it did not receive any funds from voluntary contributions -- above or below Rs 20,000, sale of coupons or electoral bonds, or unknown sources of income, the ADR said. Though the amount of donations from electoral bonds has been highlighted for the national parties, state parties also get a substantial amount of money from electoral bonds, the NGO noted. Between the financial years 2004-05 and 2022-23, the national parties collected Rs 19,083 crore from unknown sources, it said. On its latest analysis for the financial year 2022-23, the ADR said among these unknown sources, the major contributor was income from electoral bonds, constituting a "massive 82.42 per cent of the total income from unknown sources". Further scrutiny revealed that out of the total income from unknown sources, Rs 1,510 crore came from electoral bonds, it said. In addition, the Congress and the CPI(M) have also declared a combined income of Rs 136.79 crore from the sale of coupons, constituting 7.46 per cent of the income from unknown sources, its analysis showed. The BSP received Rs 29.27 crore from other known sources of income which included bank interest (Rs 15.05 crore), membership fees (Rs 13.73 crore), gain on sale of immovable property (Rs 28.49 lakh) and interest on income tax refund for 2021-22 (Rs 20.65 lakh), the organisation said. The total income of the six national political parties in the financial year 2022-23 is Rs 3,076.88 crore, it said. Donations from voluntary contributions below Rs 20,000 formed 10 per cent of the income from unknown sources, totalling Rs 183.28 crore. Currently, political parties are not required to reveal the names of individuals or organisations giving less than Rs 20,000. The ADR has suggested stringent measures to enhance transparency and accountability in political funding. It advocates for full disclosure of all donors under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and proposes that the mode of payment for all donations, regardless of the amount, be declared in the audit reports submitted to the Income Tax Department and the EC. Moreover, the EC's recommendation to grant tax exemption only to parties contesting and winning seats in elections, along with the disclosure of donors contributing above Rs 2,000, has received support from the ADR. In a landmark verdict delivered last month, ahead of the <keyword id="19895394" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lok-sabha" source="keywords">Lok Sabha</keyword> polls, the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> scrapped the government's electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, terming it "unconstitutional" and ordering disclosure of the names of the purchasers, value of the bonds and their recipients.

About 82.4% of national parties' unknown income tied to electoral bonds says poll rights body

<keyword id="4127459" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="electoral-bonds" source="Orion">Electoral bonds</keyword> worth Rs 3,429.56 crore were redeemed by parties in <keyword id="7282869" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="2019-20" source="Orion">2019-20</keyword>, and 87.29 per cent of this was received by four national parties - the <keyword id="14666" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bjp" source="Orion">BJP</keyword>, <keyword id="1575" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="congress" source="Orion">Congress</keyword>, TMC and the NCP, poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said. In a new report, the ADR said the BJP declared a total income of Rs 3,623.28 crore during the financial year 2019-20, but spent only 45.57 per cent (Rs 1,651.022 crore) of it. The Congress' total income in 2019-20 was Rs 682.21 crore. The party spent Rs 998.158 crore, which exceeds its income for that year by 46.31 per cent, it said. The TMC declared a total income of Rs 143.676 crore during FY 2019-20, and spent Rs 107.277 crore (74.67 per cent), the <keyword id="3825940" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="adr-report" source="Orion">ADR report</keyword> added. "As per the data shared by SBI in response to ADR's RTI application, electoral bonds worth Rs 3,429.5586 crore were redeemed by parties in FY 2019-20. Of this, 87.29 per cent was received by four national parties - BJP, INC, AITC &amp; NCP," it said. "The total amount of electoral bonds declared by national and regional parties for FY 2019-20 so far is Rs 3,441.324 crore. The difference in the amount declared by political parties and the data on EBs redeemed received from SBI could be due to the manner in which parties report in their audit report," the ADR said. "Seven national parties (BJP, Congress, CPM, NCP, BSP, AITC and CPI) have declared a total income of Rs 4,758.206 crore, collected from all over India," it said. The poll rights body said national parties that received the maximum income from donations or contributions include the BJP (Rs 3,427.775 crore), the Congress (Rs 469.386 crore), AITC (Rs 108.548 crore), CPM (Rs 93.017 crore) and CPI (Rs 3.024 crore). "Four national parties namely BJP, INC, AITC and NCP collected 62.92 per cent (Rs 2,993.826 cr) of their total income from donations through electoral bonds for FY 2019-20. BJP received donations through electoral bonds worth Rs 2,555.0001 crore, Congress received Rs 317.861 crore, AITC received Rs 100.4646 crore and NCP received Rs 20.50 crore," the report said. The report added that the most common and popular items of expenditure for national parties in FY 2019-20 were election expenses or general propaganda and administrative or general expenses. It also said that between 2018-19 and 2019-20, the BJP's income increased by 50.34 per cent (Rs 1,213.20 crore) from Rs 2,410.08 crore to Rs 3,623.28 crore. The Congress's income decreased by 25.69 per cent (Rs 235.82 crore) from Rs 918.03 crore during 2018-19 to Rs 682.21 crore during 2019-20. "Between FY 2018-19 and 2019-20, the highest percentage increase in income was declared by the NCP of 68.77 per cent (Rs 34.873 crore) from Rs 50.71 crore during FY 2018-19 to Rs 85.583 crore during FY 2019-20," it said. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/mukesh-ambanis-reliance-life-sciences-gets-approval-to-conduct-trials-for-its-covid-19-vaccine/articleshow/85677741.cms">Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Life Sciences' COVID-19 vaccine — here's all we know so far</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tata-motors-is-the-casualty-of-jlr-struggling-due-to-the-global-chip-shortage-and-a-lacklustre-ev-vision/articleshow/85652897.cms">Tata Motors is paying the price because Jaguar Land Rover has been slow in the EV race</a>

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Govt approves 29th tranche of electoral bonds; sale from Nov 6

PTI

Electoral bonds: Megha Engineering, Qwik Supply big donors for BJP

PTI

Electoral bonds dropped at office, received by post, say political parties

PTI

SC strikes down electoral bond scheme, terms it unconstitutional

PTI

Electoral bonds: Plea seeks contempt action against SBI for disobeying SC's order

PTI

About 82.4% of national parties' unknown income tied to electoral bonds says poll rights body

PTI

Electoral bonds worth over ₹3,400 crore redeemed by parties in 2019-20, says ADR report

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