The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received about three-fourths, or 76% of the electoral bonds sold in financial year 2019-20, NDTV reported, citing data from the Election Commission. The Congress got just 9% of the total bonds sold during the fiscal year. Electoral bonds worth Rs 3,355 crore were sold in 2019-20.
An electoral bond is a financial instrument for making donations to political parties. It is like a promissory note that can be bought by any Indian citizen or company incorporated in India from select branches of State Bank of India. The citizen or corporate can then donate the same to any eligible political party of his/her choice anonymously.
Of the Rs 3,355 crore worth of electoral bonds, the BJP received Rs 2,555 crore in 2019-20, a 75% increase from the Rs 1,450 crore it received in the previous year. The Congress received Rs 318 crore in 2019-20, a 17% decline from the previous year when it had received Rs 383 crore from electoral bonds.
According to the NDTV report, the saffron party alone has received 68% of the electoral bonds sold since inception till March 2020. Transparency activists and some political parties including Congress have repeatedly raised concerns over these ‘anonymous’ bonds, saying that they have “legalised corruption”.
— source thewire.in | Aug. 21, 2021