Electoral bonds: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday (March 21) published the complete electoral bond data submitted by the State Bank of India (SBI) on the orders of the Supreme Court (SC). The fresh data includes alpha-numeric numbers that can help match the purchasers of the bonds with the political parties that encashed them. The data also includes bond numbers that would enable donors to be matched with the political parties they donated to.
Who were the big donors for Bharatiya Janata Party?
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the biggest beneficiary of electoral bonds with donations worth over Rs 6,000 crore in the last four years of the scheme, got funds from several corporates and individuals, including- Megha Engineering, Future Gaming, and Reliance-linked Qwik Supply.
According to data released by the Election Commission on Thursday (March 21), Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering, which won several contracts for infrastructure projects, donated Rs 584 crore to the BJP, Qwik Supply Rs 395 crore, and Future Gaming Rs 100 crore.
The BJP also got Rs 346 crore from Keventers Food Park, MKJ Enterprises and Madanlal Ltd- three firms with the same Kolkata address, Vedanata contributed Rs 226 crore, and Haldia Energy Rs 81 crore.
Vedanta was also a key contributor to the Congress with donations worth Rs 125 crore. The opposition party also received funds from Western UP Power and Transmission, MKJ Enterprises and Yashoda Super Speciality Hospitals.
The BJP also got donations worth Rs 80 crore from Western UP Power and Transmission Company, and Rs 42 crore from Welspun.
How much money did Lakshmi Niwas Mittal donate to BJP?
Industrialist Lakshmi Mittal donated Rs 35 crore to the BJP in individual capacity, while several other individuals donated funds in the range of Rs 10-25 crore to the ruling party. The Election Commission 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 (SBI) earlier in the day as per a Supreme Court order.
Political parties received donations from big corporate groups
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 (March 21).
The Election Commission 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.
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, Keventers to BJP and Congress. Industrialist Lakshmi Niwas Mittal donated to the BJP, while Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw donated to BJP, TMC and Congress.
Rungta Sons Private Limited donated to Congress, BJP, TMC and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha.
Donation by pharma companies
Pharmaceutical companies Piramal Capital and Sun Pharma donated to the BJP while Torrent Pharmaceutical Limited donated to the BJP, AAP and Congress, Natco Pharma gave donations to BJP, TDP, TMC and BRS.
(With agencies inputs)
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