Parties’ unknown income rise despite electoral bonds | Data Premium

AG submits electoral bonds promote “clean money” to SC; Bench raises possibility of influential entities buying bonds through verified accounts; ADR data shows share of unknown sources of income has increased post scheme's introduction; BJP cornered 57% of income from bonds; unknown income shifted from

Before the five judge Constitution Bench sat to hear the pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme, Attorney General of India R. Venkataramani submitted in the Supreme Court that the scheme promotes contribution of “clean money” to political parties. This has been the government’s long standing claim that electoral bonds make political donations transparent while also protecting the identity of the donor.

However, the Bench raised a possible scenario wherein influential entities could purchase electoral bonds through verified accounts of other persons. Meanwhile, the petitioners have contended that unlimited and anonymous funding to political parties legitimises corruption.

Data published over the years by the Association of Democratic Reforms’ (ADR), one of the petitioners, through their annual reports show that the share of “unknown sources of income” has only increased after the introduction of the electoral bonds, the opposite of what the scheme was intended for.

Click to subscribe to our Data newsletter

The ADR categorises the income of political parties into two primary categories: known and unknown. Known income is further divided into two subtypes — voluntary contributions over ₹20,000 with donor details provided to the ECI, and other known sources of income such as the sale of movable and immovable assets.

On the other hand, unknown income encompasses voluntary donations under ₹20,000, money obtained through electoral bonds, sales of coupons, and similar means where donor details remain undisclosed to the public.

Table 1 | The table shows the income of national parties from known and unknown sources. It also shows their share in the total income of parties.