Between 2016-17 and 2021-22, the last year for which the data is available, seven national parties and 24 regional parties received a total donation of Rs 9,188.35 crore through electoral bonds.
An analysis of the assets data from Association of Democratic Reforms shows that the average assets of a winner of the 2014 LS election was more than the average assets of a candidate: more the money you have, more the chances of winning.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
The representation of women in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls continues to remain dismally low, as only about 12 percent of the candidates in the fray in the fifth phase are female, according to an analysis by poll rights body ADR.
The Association for Democratic Reforms slams the Budget proposals on political funding, says they lack teeth and show the "lack of political will" in proposing real reforms.
"The voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling... on April 19 and four days after second phase of polling... on April 26.
Right to Information activist Anjali Bhardwaj said the VVPAT system should be re-calibrated to be fully voter-verifiable.
Moveable assets accounted for 46 per cent of the wealth of the 10 richest candidates in the first phase of the 2024 elections.
The Association for Democratic Reforms has complained against six major political parties for not appointing Public Information Officers.
Twenty-nine of the 30 incumbent chief ministers are crorepatis with Andhra Pradesh's Jagan Mohan Reddy having the highest assets totalling Rs 510 crore, according to poll affidavits analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioners in the court, said at least 30 shell companies purchased electoral bonds worth over Rs 143 crore.
In 2023, this number has dropped to 90, nearly 39 per cent of the 230-member House, an ADR report said.
Government unlikely to bring in an ordinance to address the developments arising out of the Supreme Court order.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath said the matter requires to be heard.
Followed by the BSP at Rs 698.33 crore and the Congress at Rs 588.16 crore.
Forty-two of the 102 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the general election's first phase are constituencies that have three or more candidates facing criminal cases, according to a poll rights body.
'By his words, actions, and body language during their joint press appearance wanted to convey his personal respect and, more broadly, his desire to work closely with India.'
India has lodged a strong protest with Bangladesh over a now-deleted social media post by a key aide of Bangladesh's interim government that claimed certain areas of Indian territory should be part of that country. The post, which included a map showing parts of West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam as belonging to Bangladesh, was made by Mahfuz Alam, a de facto minister in the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government. The post sparked backlash and was subsequently deleted. India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reminded all concerned to be "mindful" of their public comments and emphasized the need for responsibility in public articulation.
People in Bangladesh have welcomed the new interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, hoping it would restore order, end repression and hold a fair election to facilitate a democratic transition of power.
The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Centre over the procedure adopted for the appointment of election commissioners and asked how six names were shortlisted from 200 within a few hours.
The bench said it would be difficult for the poll panel to mobilise manpower for uploading the voter turnout data on its website.
About 82 per cent of the total income from unknown sources declared by national political parties in 2022-23 came from electoral bonds, according to a poll rights body.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said the petitions raise three separate issues and hence, the need to hear them separately.
From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.
The richest Rajya Sabha MPs have gotten significantly richer -- to nearly quadruple from around Rs 20 crore in 2013 to nearly Rs 80 crore in 2022.
The study showed the ruling BJP has 132 crorepati MLAs, followed by 14 of the Congress, all three Independents, and one each of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party.
All political parties put together received more than Rs 12,000 crore till last fiscal since the introduction of the now-annulled electoral bond scheme in 2018, of which the ruling BJP got nearly 55 per cent or Rs 6,565 crore, according to the data available with Election Commission and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Nearly Rs 3,400 crore (Rs 34 billion) in cash and other items were seized in the elections in 2022-2023, an increase of 835 per cent over 2017-2018.
In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the Union law ministry rejected the petitioner's claim that the two election commissioners were hastily appointed on March 14 to "pre-empt" the orders of the top court the next day, when the matters challenging the 2023 law were listed for hearing on interim relief.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has 17 crorepati candidates followed by Tipra Motha with nine and the Communist Party of India-Marxist seven, the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a civil society organisation, said.
Future Gaming of lottery king Santiago Martin was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at Rs 1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 percent went to the DMK.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear on December 6 the plea of a Congress leader challenging a recent notification by which the sale of electoral bonds has been extended by 15 more days in the year of general elections to legislative assemblies of states and Union territories (UTs) with a legislature.
Professor Sastry says in this interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa that every political party appears to be taking a shortcut and hence there is so much criminlisation in politics.
The "unknown" sources are income declared in the annual audit report by these parties but without giving the source of income, according to the ADR.
The Association for Democratic Reforms, an non-government organisation working for electoral reforms, while supporting Election Commission's order to seize unaccounted cash in poll-bound states, has noted that legitimate business transactions based on cash should not suffer.
'Isn't it obvious? Do you have a doubt? There is so much data that shows that there is quid pro quo.' 'There are many instances of donations being given after the raids, donations being given before the award of a contract and many other permutations and combinations.'
The analysis of five candidates could not be completed as their affidavits are either badly scanned or complete affidavits are not uploaded on the Election Commission of India website, they said.
The Election Commission has rejected a demand to make mandatory the filing of affidavits by candidates in the Presidential poll disclosing their assets and criminal record, if any.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday deprecated criticism of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and calls for reverting to ballot papers, saying the electoral process in India is a "humongous task" and attempts should not be made to "bring down the system".
Out of the 69 candidates with declared criminal cases, 30 have declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, reports Vicky Nanjappa
