Election Commission Releases Electoral Bond Data Provided by Political Parties

New Delhi, March 17, 2024: The Election Commission of India (ECI) today made public the data it received from political parties regarding electoral bonds. This disclosure comes in the wake of the Supreme Court's directives.

The EC's press release highlighted, "The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website."

Highlighting the process, the statement added, "The Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in a sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website."

This disclosure comes a day after the Election Commission announced the schedule for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, spanning seven phases from April 19 to June 1.

The released documents provide raw data including the date of the bonds, denominations, number of bonds, issuing State Bank of India (SBI) branch, date of receipt, and date of credit. Notably, the unique numbers of the bonds are not disclosed.

In its press release, the EC stated, "Public disclosure by ECI of the data relating to electoral bonds as returned by the Supreme Court registry."

It further elucidated, "In compliance with the Hon’ble Supreme Court's directions, contained in its order dated Feb 15 and March 11, 2024 (in the matter of WP NO.880 of 2017), the ECI has already uploaded data on Electoral Bonds as provided by State Bank of India (SBI) vide press note of the Commission dated 14.3.2024."

The EC clarified, "Political parties had filed data on Electoral Bonds in a sealed cover as directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s interim order dated April 12, 2019, in the said WP NO.880 of 2017. Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Hon’ble Supreme Court without opening sealed covers."

Moreover, it added, "In pursuance of Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover."

The released data is expected to shed light on the utilization of electoral bonds by political parties and their financial transparency. Citizens can access the data on the ECI's official website at https://www.eci.gov.in/candidate-politicalparty.