NEW DELHI: From the who's who of the corporate world to low-profile businesses -- the Election Commission on Thursday put out the entire list of entities that have purchased electoral bonds for making political donations.
The names include steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services, and Megha Engineering.
While it is already known that the ruling BJP received the highest amount of donation of more than Rs 6,000 crore followed by Congress party, the data dump only disclosed the amount donated by each entity or individual.
It does not say who donated to which party.
While most of the bonds have been issued in the name of political parties, the donations made to the Congress and the Samajwadi Party were made in the name of 'President, All India Congress Committee' and 'Adyaksha Samajvadi Party'.
Ghaziabad-based Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital purchased 162 bonds, mostly of Rs 1 crore each.
Bajaj Auto bought bonds worth Rs 18 crore, Bajaj Finance Rs 20 crore, three IndiGo firms Rs 36 crore, Spicejet Rs 65 lakh, and Rahul Bhatia of IndiGo bought bonds worth Rs 20 crore.
Mumbai-based Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd bought bonds worth Rs 410 crore and Haldia Energy Rs 377 crore.
According to an earlier report by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), electoral bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore have been sold from March 2018 to January 2024.
The BJP received the highest contributions through the electoral bonds amounting to Rs 6,566 crore or 54.77 per cent, followed by the Congress with Rs 1,123 crore or 9.37 per cent, Trinamool Congress Rs 1,092 crore or 9.11 per cent, the data said.
Future Gaming And Hotel Services PR is the largest contributor, with a donation amount exceeding Rs 1,200 crore. Following closely behind is Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Ltd, a company based in Hyderabad, with a donation amount exceeding Rs 800 crore.
The poll panel has shared the data in two parts. The first set of data shows the name of the purchaser and denomination of the bonds, while the other shows the political parties and denomination of the bonds encashed by them.
The data pertains to purchases of bonds in three denominations – Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore – since April 12, 2019, and also reveals purchases by companies as well as individuals.
However, the data didn't reveal any co-relation between the donor and beneficiary and making it nearly impossible to link the donors with the beneficiaries.
The first part of the details contains 337 pages detailing the entities that bought electoral bonds and the date of purchase. The second part containing 426 pages provided the details of the political parties, dates and the amount. It cannot be known which company bought whose bonds and even the bond numbers have not been provided.
Among the buyers of the bonds, the names of companies included Grasim Industries, Megha Engineering, Torrent Power, Bharti Airtel, DLF Commercial Developers, Vedanta Ltd. Apollo Tyres, Lakshmi Mittal, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wine, Welspun, Sun Pharma among buyers.
Incidentally, there is no record of Adani Group or Reliance Industries – India’s two major business conglomerates.
“In compliance of Hon’ble Supreme Court's directions, contained in its order dated Feb 15 & March 11, 2024 (in the matter of WPC NO.880 of 2017), the State Bank of India (SBI) had provided the data about the electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 12, 2024. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data on electoral bonds on its website as received from SBI on “as is where is basis". The data as received from SBI can be accessed at this url: https://www.eci.gov.in/candidate-politicalparty " the Election Commission of India said in a statement on Thursday.
"It may be recalled that in the said matter, ECI has consistently and categorically weighed in favor of disclosure and transparency, a position reflected in the proceedings of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and noted in the order also," the election body added.
The parties that redeemed electoral bonds include the BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JDS, NCP, Trinamool Congress, JDU, RJD, AAP and the Samajwadi Party, according to the data.
The SBI in an affidavit to the Supreme Court had informed that 22,217 electoral bonds were issued between April 2019 and February 15, 2024, before apex court struck down the scheme after declaring it unconstitutional and arbitrary.
The Supreme Court had given the ECI a deadline of March 15 to publish the data. On Wednesday, the State Bank of India had submitted a compliance affidavit in the Supreme Court, saying that it has provided the Election Commission with comprehensive details regarding the electoral bonds scheme.
(With inputs from PTI)
