Last
evening , Election Commission (https://www.eci.gov.in/disclosure-of-electoral-bonds ) uploaded on its website Electoral
Bond data as follows :
( A
) Details of Electoral Bonds submitted by SBI Part- I
This is a simple
tabulation having following columns :
Date of Purchase
/ Purchaser Name /
Denomination
( B ) Details of Electoral Bonds submitted by SBI Part- II
This tabulation has
following columns :
Date
of Encashment / Name of the Political Party /
Denomination
But this data does not
tell us > WHO gave , HOW
MUCH , to WHOM
No doubt ( as expected ) ,
this morning’s news papers are full of some straightforward analysis
But
for you understand what this analysis HIDES , I have prepared following tabulation :
I
urge SBI / EC , to fill
in the data missing in the cells and then
publish this tabulation on their websites :
|
Total |
11,789 cr |
|
6060 cr |
1609 cr |
1421 cr |
1214 cr |
775 cr |
639 cr |
65 cr |
6 cr |
|
|
RECEPIENT |
|
BJP |
TMC |
Congress |
BRS |
BJD |
DMK |
AAP |
AIADMK |
|
DONOR |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Future Gaming |
1368 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mega Engineering |
966 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Qwik Supply |
410 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vedanta |
400 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Haldia Energy |
377 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bharti Airtel |
247 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Essel Mining |
224 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MKJ Entr |
192 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Western UP Power |
220 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jindal Group |
200 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
4604 cr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Context :
What EC Bond Data May Reveal, And What Could Remain
Hidden … TOI
…. 13 March 2024
Extract :
We will have the full
list of those who purchased EBs, including date of purchase and amount. We will
also get a detailed list of recipients.
Will we know who gave which party how
much?
Not necessarily. For three reasons.
One, because SC said it’s not asking for matching donors
with recipients. For example, if company X is shown to have bought EB worth Rs
100, and party Y is shown to have received Rs 100, we can’t assume X gave Y.
Two, details
provided by SBI may or may not include the “unique number” assigned to each
bond. This number, if known both for purchasers and recipients, will allow
anyone to match donations to parties.
Third, even assuming unique numbers are
available, we may not be
any wiser as to the ‘true’ corporate identity
of the donor.
Because when
EBs were introduced, amendments in Companies Act allowed any company, no matter
how new or how lossmaking,
to buy these bonds.
This, as
experts have been saying, effectively allows a big corporate to set up a ‘shell company’ for the
express purpose of political funding.
So, if you
spot, say, a company called ‘Flamingo’ is a big donor, and if you are, rightly,
convinced that ‘Flamingo’ is
not an established company, it might be difficult to figure out which big corporate
donor is behind ‘Flamingo’.
My
Take :
Supreme Court has ruled that the ELECTORAL BOND
scheme, in its existing form, is “ unconstitutional “
From the table above , we know that it is Opaque – not Transparent
Now the ball is in the court of the Central
Government to come up with a New
Scheme which is TRANSPARENT to public
Obviously, the arrangement that existed BEFORE the
introduction of the Electoral Bonds , was worse . Hence no going back to that
OK , in some countries , the Central Government (
or the State Govt concerned ) , “ funds “ different political parties for their
Election Campaigns . I don’t think, this is a good idea for India
I believe the ideal arrangement should be built
upon following foundation
:
Ø Individual Citizen and Companies ( registered with
ROC ) to send their donations ( using legal banking channels and digital
payments ) to the “ Central Election Fund – CEF “ account of Election Commission
Ø EC to dynamically publish each / every donation on
its website ( as soon as bank transfer happens )
Ø EC to fund / finance “ recognized political parties
“ ( National or State recognition )
For full details , read my following 7 year old proposal :
> Transparency in Political Funding ?................
06 July 2017
In my following earlier e-mails, I have repeatedly requested
Hon Supreme Court , to forward my proposal to the Central Government to seek
its views
Dear
Shri Narendrabhai ,
As you did recently in the case of “ One Nation , One
Election “ , I urge you to appoint a committee of retired SC
judges and retired Election Commissioners , to consult all political parties
and the Civil Society Think Tanks, and then to submit their “ RECOMMENDATIONS “
re the New System by 31
Dec 2024
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
www.HemenParekh.ai / 15 March
2024
Related
Readings :
Make Me A Party…………………………….. [ 03 Oct 2017 ]
Electoral Bonds for Transparency ?.. [ 03
Jan 2018 ]
Don’t Disclose Donations …………………[ 04 Jan
2018 ]
Of Electoral Bondage ?...................
[ 30 Mar 2019 ]
Please Hear and Read too……………….. [ 19 Mar 2021
]
Thank You for “ Reading “/“ Asking “ [ 24
Mar 2021 ]
But what is info in “sealed cover“?.....[ 05
July 2021 ]
Electoral Bonds Fully Transparent ? Not to
Public…………… 22 Nov 2022
An
Alternative to Electoral Bonds ? .. 15 Feb 2024
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