Four Cities Contributed 80 Percent Of Electoral Bond Sales
Mumbai leads with sale of Rs 1,880-crore electoral bonds.
Almost 83 percent of India’s electoral bonds by value have been sold in just four cities.
Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi and Hyderabad have contributed Rs 5,077 crore worth of electoral bond sales, according to data compiled by Association for Democratic Reforms. That’s compared with the Rs 6,128 crore worth these instruments that have been sold in all since March 2018.
Mumbai led with electoral bonds worth Rs 1,880 crore being sold in the city. Kolkata followed with Rs 1,440-crore. New Delhi bought Rs 919-crore bonds followed by Rs 838 core by Hyderabad.
The number show how sales of electoral bonds—an opaque method of political funding introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government—have remained largely skewed towards metro cities.
The interest-free financial instruments used to make donations to political parties keep the names of donor and recipient undisclosed. The bearer bonds have been widely criticised as unconstitutional on concerns that they would open the floodgates of unaccounted money into politics. Political parties in India are accused of accepting contributions from questionable sources to fund their extravagant rallies and publicity campaigns.
Till date, 12,313 electoral bonds have been sold in 12 tranches. Political parties have redeemed Rs 5,876 crore out of Rs 6,128-crore electoral bonds that have been sold.