Almost all political parties in India including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition party Congress have ducked the Supreme Court’s 30 May deadline to submit the details of donations received through political bonds.
Of the seven national political parties in India, only four have complied with the Supreme Court’s order.
Information received through a Right to Information (RTI) request has revealed that almost all of the 97 political parties in the country were in violation of the Supreme Court's order from April 12. The top court had asked all political parties to submit donation details by 30 May.
The only national parties that complied with the court’s order were All India Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India, and Nationalist Congress Party.
The responses were received in response to the RTI filed with the Election Commission of India by transparency activist Comodore Lokesh Batra.
According the RTI responses, BJP submitted a reply to the commission on July 6, slightly over a month after the deadline. Congress submitted their reply on June 18 of this year.
Of the 19 state parties, only eight, including Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena adhered to the Supreme Court deadline.
The system of donations to political parties through bonds was introduced in January of last year. Any Indian citizen can put in money in electoral bonds; these serve as a promissory note for the purpose of donation to political parties.