In Northeast, only Sikkim parties received funds through electoral bonds

Two other parties from Mizoram mentioned in the Supreme Court registry said they did not receive any donation

EC data shows that the Sikkim Democratic Front and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha received funds through the electoral bonds scheme. File | Photo Credit: Reuters

GUWAHATI

Only two parties from the North-East – both from Sikkim – received funds through the electoral bonds scheme introduced in 2018, two data sets five years apart uploaded by the Election Commission of India (ECI) revealed.

According to the data shared by the State Bank of India (SBI) last week, the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which ruled the Himalayan State from December 1994 to May 2019, received ₹5.5 crore via bonds between April 2019 and February 2024.

Before 2019, the SDF received another ₹50 lakh through bonds from Vadodara-based Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd., as submissions by the political parties on such receipts up to April 2019 uploaded by the ECI on Sunday reveal.

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A letter by Dev Gurung, the general secretary of the SDF’s administrative affairs, to Sikkim’s Election Department on May 31, 2019, outlines five bonds of ₹10 lakh each credited into the Gangtok branch SBI account of the party on October 12, 2018. Sikkim is a production hub of 14 major pharma companies, their units concentrated in the Rangpo area.

The BJP-backed Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, which assumed power in 2019, has also received ₹36.5 crore through bonds, which it encashed between October 13, 2022, and January 19, 2024. This number is based on the SBI’s disclosures to the ECI on electoral bonds for the period from April 2019 to February 2024.

Two parties from Mizoram mentioned in “details of electoral bonds as received in digitised form from Supreme Court registry” said they did not receive any “donation in respect of electoral bonds”.

These parties are the Mizo National Front, which lost power to the Zoram People’s Movement in 2023, and the Zoram People’s Conference.

Most other major northeast-based political parties do not feature as beneficiaries of the electoral bonds, including the Conrad K. Sangma-headed National People’s Party, the Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front, the Asom Gana Parishad, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (Nagaland), the United Democratic Party (Meghalaya), and the Naga People’s Front.