YSRC major beneficiary of electoral bonds in AP
The YSRC started encashing the electoral bonds offered by the undisclosed donors from April, 2019. The available data showed that it received bonds up to January, 2024
Vijayawada: The ruling YSRC appears to be the major beneficiary of electoral bonds in Andhra Pradesh. It got over `325 crore from April, 2019 till now from donors.
This was followed by the Telugu Desam with about `201 crore and Jana Sena Rs 17 crore.
As per the data released by the Election Commission, the three regional political parties received bonds from the donors in the denominations of Rs 1 crore, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 lakh. A majority of the donors offered bonds worth Rs 1 crore.
The YSRC started encashing the electoral bonds offered by the undisclosed donors from April, 2019. The available data showed that it received bonds up to January, 2024.
Similarly, the Telugu Desam too started redeeming the electoral bonds from April, 2019 and continued this up to Jan, 2024. In case of the Jana Sena, it started encashing the electoral bonds from Jan, 2024.
Telugu Desam spokesperson Pattabhi Ram said, “Our party has been in favour of maintaining transparency in the funding of our party. We wanted EC to disclose details of funding to the political parties through electoral bonds, and it finally happened. We regularly submit details of the funding to our party and also the sources of income to the party leaders, to the ECI every year. It will be good if other political parties also do the same.”
So is the case with the YSRC and Jana Sena, which support the system of electoral bonds to ensure transparency in the funding for political parties. The aim is to help address electoral malpractices.