According to SBI data given by the Election Commission on Thursday, Santiago Martin, the largest buyer of electoral bonds, gave the greatest amount of Rs 542 crore to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Mamata Banerjee.
Additionally, the Future Gaming owner has donated to the Congress, BJP, DMK, and YSR Congress.
Between April 12, 2019, and January 24, 2024, the TMC received Rs 1,610 crore in electoral bonds from 211 donors. The largest contribution, Rs 542 crore, came from Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd, the company owned by “Lottery King” Santiago Martin.
The TMC also got payments of Rs 90 crore from Dhariwal Infrastructure and Rs 281 crore from Haldia Energy in addition to Future Gaming. Each donation from MKJ Enterprises and AVEES Trading Finance exceeded Rs 45 crore.
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According to an Indian Express report citing EC statistics, IFB Agro Industries, Chennai Green Woods, PCBL, Prarambh Securities, and Crescent Power are among the other donors to Mamata Banerjee’s party.
The DMK, which governs Tamil Nadu, received Rs 509 crore from the company, which makes up more than 77% of the total sum received, while the TMC received Rs 542 crore. The business gave the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party of Andhra Pradesh a donation of Rs 160 crore (YSRCP). Congress received Rs 50 crore and the BJP Rs 100 crore.
The three parties that received over 90% of the company’s funding were the DMK, YSRCP, and TMC.
Furthermore, Future Gaming made donations to the Sikkim Democratic Front and Krantikari Morcha, according to a Hindustan Times story. Less than Rs 10 crore was shared by the two parties from Sikkim, one of the few places where lotteries are authorized.
During the electoral bond program, many prominent corporates acquired bonds; however, Future Gaming, the largest contributor to political parties, purchased bonds valued at Rs 1,368 crore.
Megha Engineering, situated in Hyderabad, is the second-largest donor, having contributed Rs 966 crore to the BJP, Bharat Rashtra Samiti, and DMK, among other parties.
Megha Engineering gave the BJP Rs 584 crore, or around 55% of its total donations. The percentage of the company’s bond earnings that went to the BJP was just approximately 9%. Over the past few years, electoral bonds have brought in Rs 6,060 crore for the party.
The third-largest electoral bond buyer for political parties, Qwik Supply, purchased 410 crore bonds during 2021–2024 and donated Rs 395 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena.
Little-known Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd, a producer of warehouses and storage facilities with ties to Reliance Industries and a registered address in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai, has received no funding from any other political party.
Large corporate firms including Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Muthoot, Bajaj Auto, Jindal group, and TVS Motor were key donors to the BJP.
A new collection of electoral bond data, including the alpha-numeric numbers that may be used to identify bond buyers with the political parties that got the funding, was made available to the public by the Election Commission on Thursday.
While Bharti Airtel donated to the BJP, RJD, SAD, Congress, and Bihar Pradesh Janta Dal (United), the Vedanta group provided to the BJP, Congress, BJD, and TMC.
Muthoot made donations to the NCP, the Bajaj group, the AAP, Apollo Tyres, and Keventers to the Congress and the BJP.
Businessman Lakshmi Niwas Mittal gave to the BJP, and CEO of Biocon Kiran Mazumdar Shaw gave to the Congress, TMC, and BJP.
Donations to the Congress, BJP, TMC, and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha were made by Rungta Sons Private Limited.
Pharmaceutical firms Torrent Pharmaceutical Limited, Piramal Capital, and Sun Pharma donated to the BJP, AAP, and Congress; Natco Pharma provided to the BJP, TDP, TMC, and BRS.
