Why Did BJP HQ Not File Electoral Bonds Details to EC?

What’s the mystery behind BJP’s Tripura state unit submitting details on electoral bonds to EC?

Over 60 political parties submitted details to Election Commission on donations received through electoral bonds, reveals RTI. BJP State unit submits the report on donations. 

(Image: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

Several political parties have submitted details of donations received by them via electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (EC) in sealed covers after the Supreme Court directed them to do so in an interim order on 12 April.

According to an RTI reply accessed by The Quint, over 60 parties have submitted the details. However, in case of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the details have been submitted by the Tripura state unit and not the party’s national headquarters.

The RTI reply received by Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retired), mentions ‘BJP, Tripura Pradesh State’ under the section of ‘Name of the Party’ and ‘3 June’ under the ‘Date of Receiving in the Election Commission of India.’

The mystery of whether the EC has received the consolidated details of donations received by the BJP through electoral bonds or the envelope contains only the details of the Tripura state unit of the BJP will be solved only after the SC opens the sealed cover.

While in case of other major political parties, it states ‘INC’ for Indian National Congress, ‘AITC’ for All India Trinamool Congress, ‘BSP’ for Bahujan Samaj Party, etc, with the dates of submission of details. No state unit has submitted the details to the EC on behalf of any other political party.

It is confusing to me why the state unit of a major political party (BJP) should respond to the EC rather than the national HQ of the party.

Jagdeep Chhokar, Member ADR and petitioner

Screenshot of the RTI reply by EC

The Supreme Court had delivered an interim order on 12 April 2019 directing all political parties to provide details of donations received through electoral bonds to the ECI in a sealed cover by 30 May.

The donation details submitted in the sealed cover cannot be opened by the EC.

The interim order was pronounced based on a petition demanding a stay on the sale of these anonymous electoral bonds during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The petitioners mentioned during the arguments in the SC that it appeared that only one political party seems to be the beneficiary of most of the purchased bonds. They also argued that the voters should know who is funding political parties.

Some of the major political parties that have not submitted the details and violated the SC’s order are National Conference (NC), Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress Party.

The RTI mentions that ‘Aam Aam Party’ submitted the reply on 29 May. It seems to be a typographical mistake for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) because when we checked the ECI’s list of political parties, no political party exists with the name of ‘Aam Aam Party’.

The EC gave no answer on being asked why the BJP has not submitted its nationwide electoral bond-funding details.

30 May Deadline Not Followed By All Political Parties

The RTI reveals that major political parties have submitted electoral bonds donations details to the EC.

Indian National Congress missed the 30 May deadline but filed the details on 18 June. Below are some of the other major political parties that submitted their details to the EC:

• Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - 30 May
• All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) - 30 May
• Communist Party of India (CPI) - 23 May
• Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)) - 8 June
• Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) - 30 May
• Shiv Sena - 28 May
• Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) - 30 May
• Samajwadi Party (SP) - 30 May

BJP Benefitted the Most Through Electoral Bonds

The Annual Audit Report also known as Contribution Report submitted to the EC for the year 2017-18 revealed that the ruling party, BJP, bagged 95 percent of the electoral bonds donations in 2018.

An RTI on the same revealed that Rs 222 crore worth of electoral bonds were purchased in March 2018, of which BJP received Rs 210 crore. The first tranche of electoral bonds were sold in March 2018.

In an affidavit filed in the SC on the petition challenging the electoral bonds scheme, the EC stated, “Any donation received by a political party through an electoral bond has been taken out from the ambit of reporting. It would be difficult to ascertain if the political parties received donations from Indian companies, individuals or foreign sources.”

The former Chief Election Commissioner, OP Rawat criticised bonds and said, “(electoral bonds) rather increase opacity in the process of political donations. Electoral bonds are a big threat to democracy.”

The question is: Why did the BJP, Tripura Pradesh State even send the details regarding electoral bonds donations? The SC had asked all the political parties to file a reply, not their state units.