A Kolkata-based lottery firm donated Rs 260 crore to Tamil Nadu's two principal political rivals, the DMK and AIADMK, in 2025-26, more than doubling its contributions to the parties from the previous financial year, according to disclosures submitted to the Election Commission.
The firm accounted for nearly 74 per cent of the combined contributions of Rs 352.55 crore reported by the two parties in 2025-26, highlighting the extent to which their political funding was concentrated in the hands of a single donor.
Tiger Associates, which contributed Rs 110 crore to the two parties in 2024-25, gave Rs 135 crore to the AIADMK and Rs 125 crore to the DMK in 2025-26. Its combined contributions to the parties over the two financial years thus reached Rs 370 crore.
The AIADMK's contribution report shows that Tiger Associates, linked to lottery magnate Santiago Martin through a common business associate, made six transfers totalling Rs 135 crore during the financial year.
The firm accounted for nearly 84 per cent of the AIADMK's total contributions of Rs 161.36 crore.
The DMK's disclosure records 14 contributions totalling Rs 125 crore from Tiger Associates, representing more than 65 per cent of the party's total contributions of Rs 191.19 crore.
Tiger Associates' designated partner, Subbayan Nagarajan, is a longtime associate of Martin, with corporate records showing that the two are also partners in another firm.
Martin's company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, had emerged as the largest purchaser of electoral bonds before the Supreme Court struck down the scheme in February 2024.
Electoral bond disclosures subsequently made public showed that Future Gaming had contributed Rs 509 crore to the DMK through the now-scrapped funding mechanism.
Tiger Associates and Future Gaming are separate entities, and the available disclosures do not establish that Martin personally financed Tiger Associates' political contributions.
The latest filings also show that electoral trusts contributed to both the DMK and the AIADMK during the same financial year.
Triumph Electoral Trust gave Rs 15 crore to the DMK and Rs 5 crore to the AIADMK, while Jaybharath Electoral Trust contributed Rs 4 crore and Rs 3 crore, respectively.
Prudent Electoral Trust separately contributed Rs 25 crore to the DMK, taking the combined contributions from the three trusts to the two parties to Rs 52 crore.
Tiger Associates and the three electoral trusts together accounted for Rs 312 crore, or approximately 88.5 per cent of the combined contributions reported by the two parties.
The DMK's total reported contributions, however, declined from Rs 365.82 crore in 2024-25 to Rs 191.19 crore in 2025-26, even as Tiger Associates increased its donations to the party from Rs 50 crore to Rs 125 crore.
The party's 2024-25 disclosure had recorded more than Rs 300 crore in cash contributions, primarily under its Party Development Fund.
Several substantial contributions to the two parties were made in February and March 2026, ahead of the Tamil Nadu elections, in which the DMK lost power to the TVK, founded by actor-politician Vijay.
(With inputs from PTI)
