The data disclosed by the State Bank of India on orders of the Supreme Court revealed the beneficiaries of the electoral bonds scheme and also the biggest political donors. However, many questions remain unanswered in the electoral bond controversy.
Twenty new firms have purchased electoral bonds despite the law saying it’s a punishable offence. At least 33 companies that had an aggregate loss of over Rs 1 lakh crore from FY17 and FY23, donated close to Rs 582 crores. Many companies have also donated much more than their net profits.
Additionally, many donor firms had faced regulatory actions from the ED or the IT department.
In this video, The Hindu looks at the data to understand the nature of electoral bond purchasers and spotlights the questions raised by its investigations.
Presentation and production: Sambavi Parthasarathy
Ideation and Data support: Vignesh Radhakrishnan, Rebecca Rose Varghese, Jasmin Nihalani
Videography: Thamodharan B
