EC to Publicly Disclose Electoral Bonds Details on March 15: What to Expect and Potential Remaining Secrets

Electoral Bonds Details:

Electoral bonds are a financial instrument introduced in India in 2018 for the purpose of making donations to political parties. They are essentially a mechanism for individuals and corporations to donate money to political parties, while maintaining anonymity in terms of the identity of the donor. However, there has been considerable debate and controversy surrounding electoral bond due to concerns about transparency and accountability in political funding.

Here’s a breakdown of the key points from the provided information:

1. Electoral Bond Issuance: The State Bank of India (SBI) has been the sole authorized bank to issue electoral since the inception of the scheme in 2018. The SBI has issued worth ₹16,518 crore in 30 tranches since then.

2. Election Commission’s Role: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is responsible for overseeing elections and related processes in India. In compliance with directives from the Supreme Court, the ECI is set to upload details of shared by the State Bank of India on its official website by a specified deadline.

3. Supreme Court’s Directions: The Supreme Court of India, responding to petitions and concerns regarding electoral bonds, directed the State Bank of India to provide details on . However, it did not explicitly instruct the SBI to correlate donor data with political party affiliations.

4. Anonymity of Donors: One of the key features of electora is the anonymity they provide to donors. While the details of political parties receiving will be made public, the identity of the donors remains confidential. This has raised concerns about transparency in political funding.

5. Data Matching: The details provided by the SBI may not include a “unique number” assigned to each electorl . Without this unique identifier and knowledge of both the donor and recipient, it may be difficult to match specific donations to political parties.

6. Interpretation of Donations: The example provided illustrates the complexity of interpreting donations made through electorl . Just because a company purchased worth a certain amount and a political party received bonds worth the same amount does not necessarily imply a direct donation from the company to the party.

Overall, while the release of data by the Election Commission will provide insight into the amounts received by political parties, questions regarding the transparency and accountability of political funding in India are likely to persist.

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