Although the data revealed by State Bank of India on Thursday does not throw much light on the pattern of fund-raising by parties before April 2019, it still gives some insight into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s extraordinary ability to raise funds in times of need.The party mopped up a whopping 84% of all funds that flowed in via bonds as the 2019 elections were going on, going by the data revealed by SBI.Although the electoral window of April-May 2019 covered only around 2.8% of the period for which data is available, going by the numbers, it accounted for nearly 20% of the total inflows.This was largely because parties tend to be short of cash during elections and aggressively seek funding from their well-wishers during such periods.Going by the numbers, there was no doubt about who the money-men were betting on.Of the total Rs 2,115 crore shown to have come in during the April-May window, Rs 1,772 crore flowed into the coffers of BJP, translating to a share of 83.77%.The main opposition, Indian National Congress, was a far second at a mere 7.97%, or Rs 169 crore.At third place was Trinamool Congress with 2.45% of the total proceeds, or Rs 52 crore, followed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi at 1.76%.Shiv Sena was at No.5 with 0.73%, followed by AIADMK and Samajwadi Party with just above 0.5% each.Of this Rs 2115 crore, donor data is available only for Rs 1,492 crore, because donor data has been made available only from April 12, even though the number capture nearly all of the inflows during the April-May electoral bonds window.Unlike other financial instruments, SBI does not sell electoral bonds all through the year. Instead, it opens up the so-called windows — generally 30-40 days long — once every two months or so for companies to donate to their favorite parties.The remaining 623 crore were transferred by companies before April 12, but were claimed by parties on or after April 12.Interestingly, BJP’s share fell to around 50% for the five-year period of 2019-24 as other parties started utilizing the bonds system effectively.Interestingly, it remains to be seen what happens to parties in 2024 election season, given that the Supreme Court has turned off the electoral bonds pipe.
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