 "Electoral bond data: Top 10 donors are a third of total donations by value")
The top 10 entities who bought electoral bonds between April 2019 and January 2024 accounted for more than a third of the total donations by value.
They bought bonds worth a total of Rs 4,200 crore. This is equivalent to 34.5 per cent of the total value of the bonds based on denomination value as shared by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday evening. Each of the top 10 donors are corporate entities.
The largest donor is Future Gaming and Hotel Services, which bought electoral bonds equal to Rs 1,208 crore. Future also has an additional Rs 160 crore through two different entries, which have used a different version of the company name. A look at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs records, accessed through tracker Zauba Technologies, shows a company by the name which was incorporated on December 30, 1991. The company address is in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. It remains active and has filed a balance sheet as late as March 2022.
ALSO READ: EC uploads electoral bond data in accordance with SC order: See full list
ALSO READ: EC uploads electoral bond data in accordance with SC order: See full list
An email with detailed queries was sent on Thursday night to the company. It did not immediately receive a response.
The remaining 40 in the top 50 donors’ list accounted for Rs 2,989 crore or an additional 24.6 per cent of the total
donations. The remaining 1,270 donors accounted for less than the top 50 combined.
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The 1,270 donors had total donations worth Rs 4,967 crore. This is 40.9 per cent, or less than half of the total donations of Rs 12,156 crore as per the latest electoral bond donor disclosures.
The 1,270 donors had total donations worth Rs 4,967 crore. This is 40.9 per cent, or less than half of the total donations through electoral bonds.
The ECI uploaded the data on its website as shared by State Bank of India following a Supreme Court (SC) directive.
According to the SC judgment, the anonymous nature of the bonds, and the lack of ceiling on donations, acted contrary to limits on corporate funding that existed earlier. The court has said that the limits must be retained and remove the scheme from operation. It observed that there can be a disproportionate impact of companies on policy if they are allowed to donate without being reigned in.
A report by the New Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had noted that large denomination purchases of electoral bonds may mean that they are disproportionately being used by corporate entities. It had also noted a surge in new political parties after the scheme was announced, in an October 2023 note.
“The reason for this glut of new parties definitely points out the needle of suspicion towards the government’s controversial electoral bonds and unlimited and anonymous corporate donations... 94.25 per cent or Rs 12,999 crore of the total value of bonds purchased were in the denomination of Rs 1 crore, indicating that these bonds are being purchased by corporates rather than individuals,” it said.