The Election Commission on Thursday made public a fresh data set of electoral bonds, including their alpha-numeric numbers that can help match their purchasers with the political parties that received the funds.
Two separate lists of the donors and the recipients were published by the poll panel on its website after the details were submitted to it by the State Bank of India earlier in the day as per a Supreme Court order.
The State Bank of India was the only bank authorised to sell and redeem the bonds, which were first issued in March 2018 and were being sold until the scheme was declared null and void by the top court last month.
The Election Commission said it has uploaded the data on electoral bonds on its website as received from SBI on ”as is where is basis”.
The BJP remained a major beneficiary of electoral bonds purchased by big corporate groups like Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Muthoot, Baja Auto, Jindal group, and TVS Motor, according to an analysis of data released by the Election Commission on Thursday.
Vedanta group gave donations to BJP, Congress, BJD, and TMC while Bharti Airtel donated to BJP, RJD, SAD, Congress, and Janata Dal (United).
Muthoot donated to BJP, NCP Maharashtra Pradesh, Bajaj group to BJP and AAP, Apollo Tyres to Congress, and Keventers to BJP and Congress.
Industrialist Lakshmi Niwas Mittal donated to the BJP, while Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw donated to the BJP, TMC, and Congress. Rungta Sons Private Limited donated to Congress, BJP, TMC, and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha.
Pharmaceutical companies Piramal Capital and Sun Pharma donated to the BJP while Torrent Pharmaceutical Limited donated to the BJP, AAP, and Congress, and Natco Pharma gave donations to the BJP, TDP, TMC, and BRS.
Spicejet and Tech Mahindra were among those who donated to the Aam Aadmi Party through electoral bonds.
Megha Engineering And Infrastructures Limited, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited, BG Shirke Construction Technology Pvt Ltd, Bajaj Auto Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd, Spicejet Limited, Derive Trading And Resorts Private Limit, Vardhman Textiles Ltd and V M Salgaocar Corporation Pvt Ltd were among the major companies that donated electoral bonds to the party.
The other donations received were from Austin Plywood Private Limited Abhinandan Stock Broking Pvt Ltd, Crescent Power Ltd, Dempo Ind Pvt Ltd Navhind Papers and Pub.
Trinamool Congress got at least Rs 540 crore worth of electoral bonds from Future Gaming, making it the biggest beneficiary of donations made by ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin, who also donated to DMK, YSR Congress, BJP, and Congress, according to the SBI data released.
Besides Trinamool Congress, Future Gaming gave Rs 509 crore to Tamil Nadu’s ruling party DMK, nearly Rs 160 crore to Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress Party, Rs 100 crore to BJP, and Rs 50 crore to Congress.
The second-biggest donor is known to be Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering, which has given Rs 966 crore to various parties including BJP, Bharat Rashtra Samiti, and DMK.
Qwik Supply, the third largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds, bought Rs 410 crore in bonds between 2021-22 and 2023-24 and gave Rs 395 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena.
Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd, a little-known company with a registered address at Navi Mumbai’s Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and having links to Reliance Industries, is described as a manufacturer of warehouses and storage units, gave no money to any other political party.
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