Where the money was allowed to go
Published 5 October 2026
The scheme was notified on Tuesday, January 2, 2018. The first of thirty sale windows opened on March 1, 2018, and the last closed on January 11, 2024. The Court's interim order of April 12, 2019 asked parties to give the ECI sealed-cover details of bond donations. A Constitution Bench was constituted by an order of Tuesday, October 31, 2023. The judgment striking the scheme down was delivered on Thursday, February 15, 2024. The SBI's application for more time was refused on Monday, March 11, 2024; the Court ordered "all details", including the alphanumeric numbers, on Monday, March 18; and the SBI's affidavit of compliance followed on Thursday, March 21. The Court declined an SIT on Friday, August 2, 2024, and dismissed review petitions on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 (uploaded Saturday, October 5, 2024). Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
ADR's phase table counts 28,030 bonds sold for Rs 16,518.1099 crore over thirty windows, of which 27,811 bonds worth Rs 16,492.4722 crore were redeemed and 219 bonds worth Rs 25.6377 crore went to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. The SBI told the Court that 22,217 bonds were sold from April 1, 2019, and ADR's analysis of the data from April 12, 2019 to February 15, 2024 counted 20,421 bonds worth Rs 12,769.0893 crore encashed, of which the BJP encashed 8,633 bonds worth Rs 6,060.5111 crore. Source: ADR, updated data on electoral bonds
The Supreme Court's judgment of Thursday, February 15, 2024 opens with a history of how India regulated money given to political parties. The case is Association for Democratic Reforms and Another v. Union of India and Others, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 880 of 2017, heard with W.P.(C) 59 of 2018, 975 of 2022 and 1132 of 2022 and reported as 2024 INSC 113. It was decided by a five-judge Constitution Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The outcome was unanimous. The Chief Justice wrote for himself and Justices Gavai, Pardiwala and Misra, and Justice Khanna wrote a separate concurring opinion that "respectfully agree[s] with the findings and conclusions" but says his "reasoning is different to arrive at the same conclusion, including application of the doctrine of proportionality". The paragraph numbers used throughout this piece are the judgment's own. Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
Corporate donations
The Court begins with the Companies Act. In 1960, Section 293A was inserted in the Companies Act 1956. A company could give no more than Rs 25,000 or 5 percent of its average net profit over the three preceding years, whichever was greater, and had to disclose the amount and the recipient in its profit and loss account. The default fine was up to Rs 5,000. Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
In 1969 Parliament banned company donations to political parties outright. A breach carried a fine of up to Rs 5,000 for the company and up to three years in prison for each officer in default. In 1985 donations were allowed again, with a cap of 5 percent of average net profit. No Government company and no company less than three financial years old could give, a Board resolution was required, the fine rose to up to three times the amount given, and officers faced up to three years. Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
Section 182 of the Companies Act 2013 raised the cap to 7.5 percent of average net profit over the three preceding years. It kept the three-year-old rule and the Board resolution, raised the fine to up to five times the amount, and required a company to show the amount and the party name in its profit and loss account. Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
The Finance Act 2017 (section 154) changed this in three ways. It omitted the first proviso, which was the cap. It cut Section 182(3) so that a company declared only the total given in the year, not party-by-party figures. And it added Section 182(3A), which let giving take place by account-payee cheque, bank draft or electronic clearing, or by "any instrument, issued pursuant to any scheme notified under any law". That last phrase was the opening for electoral bonds. Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
Tax and disclosure rules
On the tax side, Section 13A of the Income Tax Act, from 1978, exempted a party's income from voluntary contributions if the party kept accounts, kept a record of donations above Rs 20,000 with the donor's name and address, and had its accounts audited. The threshold was Rs 10,000 at first and was raised to Rs 20,000 in 2003. Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
The 2003 amendments added Sections 80GGB and 80GGC, which let companies and other donors deduct gifts to parties. The Court quotes the then Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, saying the aim was to "incentivize contributions" through cheque and bank channels. The same 2003 Act added Section 29C to the Representation of the People Act 1951 (RPA): A party treasurer must report each donation over Rs 20,000 to the Election Commission of India (ECI) every year, or the party loses tax relief. Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
The Finance Act 2017 then changed all three rules. Under Section 13A(b), parties no longer needed a donor record for donations made by electoral bond. Any donation above Rs 2,000 had to come by cheque, draft, electronic clearing or bond. And a proviso to Section 29C(1) said that bond donations need not be reported to the ECI. Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
The Court itself sums this up in four lines: Bonds are a new route; parties need not disclose bond donations; companies need not disclose party-wise donations; and unlimited corporate funding is allowed. Source: Judgment, ADR v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 113 (Feb 15, 2024)
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