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NEW DELHI: Two electoral trusts – Paribartan Electoral Trust and Prudent Electoral Trust – disbursed corporate donations to political parties via electoral bonds route, going by disclosures made by the Election Commission till Thursday.
While Paribartan Electoral Trust donated a total Rs 4 crore through bonds between Apr 2, 2019 and Oct 13, 2023, of which Rs 1 crore went to Congress as per the latest details made public by EC, Prudent Electoral Trust gave Rs 1 crore to RJD in Apr 2019 and Rs 50 lakh to Goa Forward Party in Nov 2018. Prudent’s donations were declared by the two parties while furnishing details of bonds redeemed by them before mid-2019; these were uploaded on the commission’s website on Mar 17, 2024.
While Paribartan received its contributions exclusively from the M P Birla Group companies, Prudent’s top donors in 2018 and 2019 included Bharti Airtel, DLF Group, GMR, Torrent Group, Ultratech Cement, among others.
As per full details of bonds purchased and redeemed by parties since Apr 2019, Paribartan Electoral Trust purchased an electoral bond worth Rs 1 crore on Oct 13, 2023 and donated it to the Congress, which was encashed three days later.
This was not the first time that Paribartan Electoral Trust had opted for the circuitous route to disburse corporate donations to parties. As per its contribution report for 2019-20, the trust received Rs 3.02 crore from Birla Corporation Ltd on Apr 2, 2019. With this, it purchased and donated bonds worth Rs 3 crore. However, the trust did not reveal donee party details, citing the confidentiality clause in electoral bonds scheme.
The recipients remain unknown since SBI has shared the unique bond number only with respect to bonds sold from April 12, 2019 onwards.
Of the total Rs 4.75 crore disbursed by Paribartan so far via bonds, Rs 75 lakh donations, which came from Birla Corporation Ltd and RCCPL Pvt Ltd, were disbursed through the normal trust route to BJP.
Unlike the electoral bonds scheme which offered full secrecy to the donor until the Supreme Court intervened and directed full details to be made public, an electoral trust needs to only disclose its donors and their donations and the partywise disbursal of the total amount of donations received. The partywise breakup of individual donations does not need to be made public.
While Paribartan Electoral Trust donated a total Rs 4 crore through bonds between Apr 2, 2019 and Oct 13, 2023, of which Rs 1 crore went to Congress as per the latest details made public by EC, Prudent Electoral Trust gave Rs 1 crore to RJD in Apr 2019 and Rs 50 lakh to Goa Forward Party in Nov 2018. Prudent’s donations were declared by the two parties while furnishing details of bonds redeemed by them before mid-2019; these were uploaded on the commission’s website on Mar 17, 2024.
While Paribartan received its contributions exclusively from the M P Birla Group companies, Prudent’s top donors in 2018 and 2019 included Bharti Airtel, DLF Group, GMR, Torrent Group, Ultratech Cement, among others.
As per full details of bonds purchased and redeemed by parties since Apr 2019, Paribartan Electoral Trust purchased an electoral bond worth Rs 1 crore on Oct 13, 2023 and donated it to the Congress, which was encashed three days later.
This was not the first time that Paribartan Electoral Trust had opted for the circuitous route to disburse corporate donations to parties. As per its contribution report for 2019-20, the trust received Rs 3.02 crore from Birla Corporation Ltd on Apr 2, 2019. With this, it purchased and donated bonds worth Rs 3 crore. However, the trust did not reveal donee party details, citing the confidentiality clause in electoral bonds scheme.
The recipients remain unknown since SBI has shared the unique bond number only with respect to bonds sold from April 12, 2019 onwards.
Of the total Rs 4.75 crore disbursed by Paribartan so far via bonds, Rs 75 lakh donations, which came from Birla Corporation Ltd and RCCPL Pvt Ltd, were disbursed through the normal trust route to BJP.
Unlike the electoral bonds scheme which offered full secrecy to the donor until the Supreme Court intervened and directed full details to be made public, an electoral trust needs to only disclose its donors and their donations and the partywise disbursal of the total amount of donations received. The partywise breakup of individual donations does not need to be made public.
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