 "Electoral bonds: 22 entities donated Rs 100 crore+ each to parties in 5 yrs")
The publication of data on electoral bonds shows that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the biggest beneficiary of a scheme that allowed anonymous donations to political parties and was scrapped by the Supreme Court in February.
According to information shared by the State Bank of India (SBI) with the Election Commission, the BJP received donations totaling more than Rs 6,000 crore.
The data – it does not specify which entity donated to which party – shows Future Gaming and Hotel Services was the top donor by purchasing electoral bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore. Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited, the second largest donor, bought 50 electoral bonds worth Rs 1 crore each on April 12.
The scheme, annulled by the apex court on February 15, was introduced in Union Budget 2017-18 to allow entities to make anonymous donations to political parties. However, the SBI's data pertains to the bonds purchased and redeemed between April 12, 2019 and February 15, 2024.
Top 10 donors in electoral bonds scheme
1) Future Gaming and Hotel Services - Rs 1,368 crore
2) Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd - Rs 966 crore
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3) Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd - Rs 410 crore
4) Haldia Energy Ltd - Rs 377 crore
5) Vedanta Ltd - Rs 376 crore
6) Essel Mining & Industries Ltd - Rs 225 crore
7) Western UP Power Transmission Company Ltd - Rs 220 crore
8) Bharti Group - Rs 198 crore
9) Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd - Rs 195 crore
10) MKJ Enterprises Limited - Rs 192 crore
Top five political parties who benefited from the scheme
1) BJP - Rs 6,060.51 crore
2) Trinamool Congress - Rs 1,609.53 crore
3) Indian National Congress (Congress) - Rs 1,421.87 crore
4) Bharat Rashtra Samithi - Rs 1,214.71 crore
5) Biju Janata Dal - Rs 775.50 crore
(The BJP received nearly 55 per cent of the total amount of donations among the top five political parties.)
Over nearly five years until February 15, the top ten corporate donors collectively purchased bonds worth Rs 4,200 crore. The amount comprises approximately 34.5 per cent of the total value of the bonds based on their denomination value. A total of 22 names emerged in the list donated more than Rs 100 crore each in five years, the Hindu reported.
The other major donors in the SBI list included Apollo Tyres, Grasim Industries, Piramal Enterprises, PVR, Sula Wine, Welspun, Torrent Power, DLF Commercial Developers, Lakshmi Mittal, Edelweiss, and Sun Pharma among others. Steel magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal bought Rs 35 crore worth of bonds in his individual capacity.
According to SBI, a total of 22,217 bonds were bought between April 2019 and February 2024. However, data from the Election Commission indicated that the last date for bond-related transactions was January 11, 2024. According to the SBI, 22,030 bonds were redeemed by political parties during this period.
Congress, India’s main Opposition party, alleged on Thursday that there is a discrepancy in the numbers of entries in donor and recipient files -- 18,871 against 20,421. The Congress also demanded to know why the data shared pertained to a period from April 2019 even though the funding was introduced in 2017.