The State Bank of India (SBI) has provided the details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in two password-protected PDF files. One file contains the details of the purchasers of the electoral bonds, while the other file contains the names of the political parties redeeming these bonds. The SBI has clarified that between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2024, a total of 22,217 bonds were purchased, and 22,030 bonds were redeemed.
The electoral bonds data includes information such as the date of purchase, the name of the purchaser, and the denomination of the bonds. The data has been compiled in a comprehensive manner, including year-wise, state-wise, city-wise (SBI branch), and type-of-bond-wise datasets.
The SBI had previously informed the Supreme Court that the details of electoral bond purchases were not maintained centrally but in two different silos to protect the anonymity of donors. However, in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order, the SBI has now shared the electoral bonds data in two separate password-protected PDF files stored in a pen drive.
The Election Commission of India has uploaded the data received from the SBI on its website on an “as is where is basis”. The data can be accessed on the Election Commission’s official website. One set of data contains the purchase details, including the date of purchase, the name of the purchaser, and the denomination of the bonds. The second set contains the details of political parties, including the date of encashment, the name of the political party, and the denomination of the bonds.
This release of electoral bonds data by the Election Commission of India is in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order. The data includes the purchase of electoral bonds of denominations ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore since April 12, 2019. The data also reveals the names of entities that have made donations to political parties through electoral bonds.
