Comments
The lion’s share of BJP’s electoral bond donations came from Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited, according to the latest data revealed by the Election Commission. Between April 2019 and January 2024, the company donated a massive ₹584 crore to the ruling party. Earlier data by the EC showed that MEIL, a Hyderabad-based infrastructure company, was the second biggest electoral bond donor in the country. The BJP has received more than half of the money that the company has donated through electoral bonds.
Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd comes next, donating ₹375 crore to the party. The other big donors to the BJP include Vedanta Limited (₹226.65 crore) and Bharti Airtel (₹197 crore). Data showed that the party has encashed electoral bonds from at least 524 donors, including companies and individuals.
Reliance-linked Qwik Supply Chain gave the remaining of its donations to two Maharashtra parties: ₹25 crore went to Shiv Sena, and the Nationalist Congress Party got ₹10 crore.
Click here to read the complete list of donors list
While most big donors in the country have donated money to the BJP at various points. Their list of donors also includes affluent individuals. This list includes Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, Executive Chairman of ArcelorMittal, the person who spent the most on purchasing electoral bonds. The BJP last encashed bonds worth ₹7 crore on January 24, 2024.
Click here to read the full list of recipient political parties
The document uploaded by the EC on Thursday night, however, doesn’t reveal the entire data. Going by the data, there are donations that are unaccounted for and received by most parties.
Electoral bond donations were struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on February 15, 2024, following which it ordered the State Bank of India to reveal the names of parties and donors to the Election Commission.
Who got Future Gaming’s money?
Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming & Hotel Services, the biggest donor in the country, has paid money via bonds to almost all political parties. While it paid ₹100 crore to the BJP, it was the biggest donor to the All India Trinamool Congress.
The company paid ₹542 crore to the party, emerging as its biggest donor. In 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a probe against the company for a lottery scam based on the cases registered by the Kolkata Police. AITC is the third-biggest receiver of electoral bonds in the country.
The YSR Congress Party, which is in power in Andhra Pradesh, also received most of its bond donations from Future Gaming, worth ₹159 crore. The company also donated ₹50 crore to the Congress. businessline had previously reported that it donated ₹509 crore worth of money to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam via bonds.
At the same time, the Indian National Congress’ biggest donor via the bond route was Vedanta, which donated ₹125 crore. India’s grand old party also received big bucks from UP Power and Transmission, MKJ Enterprises Ltd, and Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital.
Based in Hyderabad, MEIL was the biggest donor to K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi, which ruled Telangana between 2014 and 2023.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
