The better known names include steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel, Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, DLF, PVR, Birlas, Bajajs, Jindals, Spicejet, IndiGo and the Goenkas.
The Election Commission (EC) has recently uploaded data received from the State Bank of India (SBI) on electoral bonds onto its website. This action was taken to comply with the Supreme Court’s order and was done just a day before the court-mandated deadline of March 15. The list of entities that have purchased electoral bonds for making political donations reads like a Who’s Who of the corporate world. However, the most significant donor, as per the list released by the Election Commission on Thursday, is a lesser-known lottery company named Future Gaming and Hotel Services. Following closely behind is Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL), the second-biggest doner, who is a prominent Hyderabad-based infrastructure firm recognized for its contributions to major projects like the Zojila tunnel.
“It may be recalled that in the said matter, ECI has consistently and categorically weighed in favour of disclosure and transparency, a position reflected in the proceedings of the Hon’ble Supreme court and noted in the order also,” read the press note.
While it is already known that the ruling BJP received the highest amount of donation of over Rs 6,000 crore followed by the Congress party, the data dump only disclosed the amount donated by each entity or individual. It does not say who donated to which party. While most of the bonds have been issued in the name of political parties, the donations made to the Congress and the Samajwadi Party were made in the name of ‘President, All India Congress Committee’ and ‘Adyaksha Samajvadi Party’.
Top doners of electoral bonds
Future Gaming and Hotel Services purchased possibly the highest amount of bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore, followed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd at Rs 966 crore. Future Gaming was probed by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2022.
The better known names include steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel, Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, DLF, PVR, Birlas, Bajajs, Jindals, Spicejet, IndiGo and the Goenkas.
Among the known corporates, Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd bought Rs 398 crore worth of bonds, while Sunil Mittal’s three companies together purchased a total of Rs 246 crore worth of bonds.
Steel magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal bought Rs 35 crore worth of bonds in his individual capacity. Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering, which has bagged contracts of several large infrastructure projects, bought bonds worth Rs 966 crore.
According to the data uploaded by the poll panel, the buyers of electoral bonds included Spicejet, IndiGo, Grasim Industries, Megha Engineering, Piramal Enterprises, Torrent Power, Bharti Airtel, DLF Commercial Developers, Vedanta Ltd., Apollo Tyres, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wines, Welspun, Sun Pharma, Vardhman Textiles, Jindal Group, Phillips Carbon Black Limited, CEAT tyres, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, ITC, Kaypee Enterprises, Cipla, and Ultratech Cement.
Besides Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, individuals who donated through electoral bonds included Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Varun Gupta, B K Goenka, Jainendra Shah and one person going by only first name of Monika.
Ghaziabad-based Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital purchased 162 bonds, mostly of Rs 1 crore each. Bajaj Auto bought bonds worth Rs 18 crore, Bajaj Finance Rs 20 crore, three IndiGo firms Rs 36 crore, Spicejet Rs 65 lakh, and Rahul Bhatia of IndiGo bought bonds worth Rs 20 crore. Mumbai-based Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd bought bonds worth Rs 410 crore and Haldia Energy Rs 377 crore.
Parties who redeemed electoral bonds
The parties that redeemed electoral bonds include the BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JD-S, NCP, Trinamool Congress, JDU, RJD, AAP, the Samajwadi Party, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, BJD, Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, JMM, Sikkim Democratic Front, and the Jana Sena Party.
According to an earlier report by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), electoral bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore have been sold from March 2018 to January 2024.
The BJP received the highest contributions through the electoral bonds amounting to Rs 6,566 crore or 54.77 per cent, followed by the Congress with Rs 1,123 crore or 9.37 per cent, Trinamool Congress Rs 1,092 crore or 9.11 per cent, it had said.
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