On Sunday, new documents revealing the names of companies and individuals that made contributions to the Nationalist Congress Party till May 7, 2019, through the electoral bonds route were made public by the Election Commission of India. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) received Rs 37.5 crore, via the electoral bond route, between January 10, 2019 and May 7, 2019.
Originally, this information was provided to the Supreme Court in sealed envelopes. The Supreme Court directed the commission to release these details to the public. Details of electoral bonds encashed by the NCP beyond May 7, 2019 were disclosed by the election authority last week. The party had received Rs 28.5 crore, after May 7, 2019, for which the donor information is still not available.
Compiling the donations received by the NCP via the electoral bond route, from its initial receipt on January 10, 2019, to the most recent one on April 13, 2023, reveals that its largest single-day donation of Rs 10 crore was recorded on January 11, 2022. This significant donation was made between November 28, 2019 and June 29, 2022, a time when the NCP returned to power in the state as a member of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition.
The graph shows donations made to the party in Rs crore through the electoral bond route. Donations received when the party was in power, is highlighted. The dates in the story correspond to when the funds from the electoral bonds were deposited into the party’s accounts. Parties are required to encash electoral bonds within 15 days of their issuance.
The NCP is among the few parties that had disclosed the identities of contributors who donated via the electoral bond route. In the period, for which donor information was available, the party had secured Rs 7.5 crore through the Electoral bond route from Bajaj Finserv and Rs 5 crore from Infina infrastructure. It had also received Rs 5 crore from Atul Chordia and Rs 4.5 crore from Avinash Bhosle in the period. Their addresses were not included in the details.
Cyrus Poonawalla, the founder of Serum Institute of India, had donated Rs 3.75 crore to the party in this period. Bharti Airtel Limited also donated Rs 2 crore. The rest were from other firms and individuals.
After a split in the party in 2023, the Election Commission awarded the party’s original name and symbol to a faction led by Ajit Pawar. The group that remained with party chief Sharad Pawar was given the name NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
