Electoral Bonds: MEIL second highest donor; BRS 4th biggest recipient after BJP, Trinamool, Congress
Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited stood out as the second top donor while Yashoda Hospitals and Dr Reddy’s also featured in the top 25 donors.
- National
P Krishnamurthy- Updated On:15 March 2024 1:23 PM IST
HYDERABAD: Two days after the State Bank of India (SBI) submitted the entire data on electoral bonds to the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India (ECI) made the data on the anonymously purchased bonds public on March 14, 2024.
The SBI said that it had issued electoral bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) are the top four beneficiaries among political parties from donations through electoral bonds.
The Future Gaming and Hotel Services, Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Ltd, Qwiksupplychain Pvt Ltd, Haldia Engineering and Vedanta Ltd are said to be the highest donors.
Yashoda Hospitals, Hetero Drugs, Dr Reddy’s Labs, along with MEIL, are among the top donors from Hyderabad. However, the total amounts received and total amounts donated through bonds have yet to be ascertained. But the pecking order of the top donors and top recipients are confirmed. Each news organisation has given a different number.
A clear picture would emerge only tomorrow.
According to the data released by the ECI, the BJP emerged as the top beneficiary of electoral bonds, encashing bonds worth Rs 6,060.51 crore between April 12, 2019, and January 24, 2024. This amount is the highest among all political parties.
The TMC stood second, receiving Rs 1,609.53 crore via electoral bonds. The Congress occupied the third spot, collecting Rs 1,421.87 crore through this route. The BRS stood fourth receiving Rs 1,214.71 crore.
The highest donor was Future Gaming And Hotel Services with Rs 1,368 crore. The second highest was Megha Engineering And Infrastructure Ltd with Rs 821 crore worth donation.
At least 14 out of the top 30 donors faced action by central/state probe agencies around the time they donated. Electoral Bonds
Electoral bonds case has exposed the BJP and misuse of Central Agencies to threaten companies.
Notable buyers of the now-defunct electoral bonds for political contributions included steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, along with lesser-known entities like Future Gaming and Hotel Services, as disclosed by the ECI on its website.
Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited stood out as the second top donor with contributions amounting to Rs 821 crore via Electoral bonds, while Yashoda Hospitals and Dr Reddy’s also featured in the top 25 donors with Rs 162 crore and Rs 80 crore respectively.
Among renowned corporates, Vedanta Ltd. procured bonds worth Rs 375.65 crore, while three companies owned by Sunil Mittal collectively bought bonds worth Rs 246 crore.
Individual purchases included steel magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal's Rs 35 crore investment in electoral bonds.
The Electoral Commission's data indicated that while most bonds were issued in favour of political parties, donations to Congress and Samajwadi Party were made in the name of 'President, All India Congress Committee' and 'Adyaksha Samajvadi Party'.
Individual donors, including Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and B K Goenka, along with corporate entities like Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance, IndiGo firms, Spicejet, and others, were identified.
The ADR reported a total sale of 28,030 electoral bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore from March 2018 to January 2024, with BJP leading in contributions at Rs 6,566 crore, followed by Congress and Trinamool Congress.
