The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in its letter to the Election Commission (EC) sharing other details of the donations received via electoral bonds till September 2023, had not disclosed the names of donors, pointing out that those particulars were not maintained as it was not required under the then existing legal provisions.
According to the fresh data made public by the EC, through a letter dated November 3, 2023, it had sought the details of the donations made to the BJP through electoral bonds.
On November 15, 2023, the party wrote back to the Commission sharing particulars of such donations, totalling around ₹6,987 crore received from March 2018 till September 2023. However, it did not disclose the names of the donors. Several other parties gave similar justifications for either not collecting and storing donors’ names or not revealing them.
New provision in law
In its letter to the EC, the BJP said it was required to maintain and submit the details of donations received by it as per Section 29C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. However, the subsequently amended provision stated that its sub-section (1) — which pertains to donations of over ₹20,000 received from persons or private companies — would not apply to the contributions received by way of an electoral bond.
Also read: Making sense of the electoral bonds data
The letter said: “It is duly submitted that as per the Electoral Bonds Scheme, bonds can be issued only by the designated bank to the desired person after the complete KYC of the person has been done. Further, the payment to the bank for purchase of the Electoral Bonds is strictly made through the banking channels only. As such, only accounted for funds can be used to purchase the electoral bonds.”
Further exemption of disclosure
The party also cited Section 13A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which required every political party to file its Income Tax return and maintain the particulars of its donations received. “There is an exemption within the section for the party to maintain/disclose the details of the donations received through Electoral Bonds,” it said.
“There is an exemption from maintaining any details regarding the particulars of donations received through Electoral Bonds in the Income Tax Act, 1961, as well. The Electoral Bonds were introduced with the aim of bringing only accounted for funds in political funding while protecting the donors from any consequences, therefrom. It is duly submitted that as per the applicable laws stated above, the party is not required to maintain the names and particulars of the donors of the Electoral Bonds and as such the party has not maintained these particulars,” said the letter.
