(This story originally appeared in on Jan 10, 2020)

New Delhi: The ruling BJP raised Rs 2,410 crore ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and notably, 60% or Rs 1,450 crore has come through Electoral Bonds, the controversial instrument in which donors' identity is not revealed.Opposition Congress raised Rs 383 crore or 41% of its total Rs 918 crore funding from the Electoral Bonds, as per the latest data. The Congress party, besides other opposition parties, has strongly opposed the bond mechanism owing to anonymity of the donor, and the issue is slated to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court later this month. Electoral bonds worth over Rs 5,000 crore have been issued from March 2018 till May 2019. Both BJP and Congress have submitted their annual audit reports for 2018-19 to the Election Commission of India The reports fully indicate the scale of Electoral Bonds in political funding. The earlier audit reports of 2017-18 contain only the first tranche of bonds issued in March 2018, of Rs 222 crore. BJP had bagged 95% of these with bonds worth Rs 210 crore going towards raising its total kitty to Rs 989 crore. BJP has, in fact, been on a dream run since 2013-14, raising record funding every year.The 2018-19 figures however, take it to another level altogether. While the BJP raised nearly Rs 1,000 crore annually since 2016-17, in 2018-19, the party mob ilised a whopping Rs 2,410 crore. The Rs 1,450 crore from Electoral bonds apart, Tata backed Prudent Electoral Trust had been the other key contributor at Rs 356 crore. The BJP spent Rs 1,005 crore in 2018-19, up from Rs 758 crore it spent in 2017-18. As per BJP’s data for 2018-19, Rs 792 crore was spent on elections with Rs 435 crore going towards 'advertisment and publicity'. It spent Rs 60 crore towards financial assistance to its contesting candidates, Rs 85 crore for 'grants to others', Rs 69 crore towards rallies and morchas, and Rs 67 crore for meetings.The grand old party, on the other hand, raised about half the amount BJP did, mobilising Rs 918 crore. As per the breakup, Rs 55 crore came from the Tata-promoted Electoral Trust, and a total of Rs 98 crore came via other electoral trusts. Though far behind the BJP, it is still a big jump for the Congress from the preceding year when it received only Rs 199 crore in funding, a meagre Rs 5 crore of which came via Electoral Bonds.The Congress spent Rs 469 with a bulk, or Rs 369 crore, spent on elections. Mamata Banerjee ’s Trinamool Congress raised Rs 192 crore in 2018-19 and spent Rs 11 crore. It received Rs 97 crore or 50.5% from electoral bonds. CPM raised a Rs 100 crore and spent Rs 71 crore. It hasn’t declared any funding received through electoral bonds. BSP raised Rs 69 crore, up from Rs 14 crore it received the year before, and spent Rs 48 crore. It too has not declared any funding through bonds. CPI managed to raise only about Rs 7 crore.