InterGlobe Aviation, SpiceJet among electoral bond buyers

The data on electoral which was released by the election commission showed that three InterGlobe entities purchased electoral bonds to the tune of Rs 36 crore. This comes after the Supreme court scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordered disclosure by the Election Commission of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients.

New Delhi:InterGlobe Aviation and SpiceJet were among the buyers of electoral bonds, according to data released on Thursday. The data on electoral bonds showed that three InterGlobe entities purchased electoral bonds to the tune of Rs 36 crore. InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of the country's largest airline IndiGo, purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore on October 4, 2023.

As per the data, InterGlobe Air Transport bought electoral bonds worth Rs 11 crore and InterGlobe Real Estate Ventures snapped up Rs 20 crore. Both entities purchased the electoral bonds on May 10, 2019. Besides, IndiGo promoter bought electoral bonds worth Rs 20 crore on April 7, 2021. The data showed that SpiceJet purchased electoral bonds valued at Rs 65 lakh on three separate occasions -- January 8, 2021; April 9, 2021 and July 9, 2021.

There were no immediate comments from InterGlobe and SpiceJet. On Thursday, the Election Commission put out the details on 'Disclosure of Electoral Bonds submitted by SBI' in two parts. Following a Supreme Court directive, the State Bank of India shared the data with the Election Commission on March 12.

On February 15, a five-judge Constitution bench scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordered disclosure by the Election Commission of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients.