The Election Commission has always been in favour of transparency, but there is a need to ensure that the donors’ privacy is protected, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday.
Kumar’s comments came after the poll panel on Thursday published details about electoral bonds, which were submitted by the State Bank of India, following the Supreme Court’s directions. He said that the commission has always been in favour of transparency when it comes to electoral bonds.
“The country has to now also ask and find solutions through an institutional mechanism where the donor’s privacy is also considered,” he said. “But the unaccounted money, which is used in the elections – which we try to control during elections. How do we also control donations in the unaccounted form is something that the entire nation has to work together.”
He added: “How the donor’s privacy is also protected, he is not harassed, how it is channelised, how it is more and more white. In the digital age, there must be a very, very less cash economy.”
Kumar added that the poll body has made it compulsory for all political parties to disclose the contributions they are receiving and how much money is being spent.
Details about electoral bonds purchased from April 12, 2019, to January 11 have been made public on the commission’s website. The polling body also uploaded details of denominations of electoral bonds encashed between April 12, 2019, and January 24.
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On February 15, the Supreme Court judgement had said that the electoral bonds scheme could lead to quid pro quo arrangements between donors and political parties. It struck down the scheme as unconstitutional.
However, the data submitted by the bank did not mention the serial numbers of the electoral bonds, which would have allowed for matching the entities that donated funds with the political parties that received them. The poll panel said it uploaded data that the State Bank of India submitted to it on March 12 on an “as is where is basis”.
On Saturday, the commission announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections. The general elections will be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1, and the counting of votes will take place on June 4.
Read more analysis on this topic by the Project Electoral Bond, a collaborative project involving Scroll, The News Minute, Newslaundry and freelance journalists.
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