Vedanta Ltd., Jindal Group, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance, Piramal Enterprises, Ultratech Cement and Grasim Industries (Aditya Birla Group), Lakshmi Mittal, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Torrent Power, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra and Mahindra, ITC, PVR and DLF Commercial Developers are some of the top names featuring on the list of donors to political parties through the Electoral Bonds Scheme as per data revealed by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The Election Commission on Thursday uploaded the data related to Electoral Bonds submitted by the State Bank of India on its website, as ordered by the Supreme Court of India. Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd, Muthoot Finance Limited, Pegasus Properties Private Limited, Finolex Cables Ltd, Apollo Tyres, Spicejet, IndiGo, Edelweiss, Keventer, Sula Wine, Welspun, Vardhman Textiles, Phillips Carbon Black Limited, CEAT tyres, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Kaypee Enterprises are some of the major names featuring in the list of buyers of Electoral Bonds.
As per the data revealed by ECI, 22217 bonds worth Rs 12,155.51 have been purchased by 1260 companies and people between 2019 and 2024. Out of 22,217 electoral bonds, 22030 were redeemed between April 1, 2019 and February 15, 2024 as revealed by SBI in Supreme Court.
Twenty three political parties have redeemed these bonds with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) topping the list followed by Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress and Indian National Congress.
Top donors through Electoral Bonds
According to the revealed data, the top 10 companies which have donated money to political parties through Electoral Bonds include
Future Gaming and Hotel Services (donated 1368 crore)
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (donated 966 crore)
Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd (donated 410 crore)
Vedanta Ltd (donated 400 crore)
Haldia Energy Ltd (Flagship of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group donated 377 crore)
Bharti Group (donated 247 crore)
Essel Mining and Industries Ltd (donated 224 crore)
Western UP Power Transmission (donated 220 crore)
Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd and Madanlal Ltd. (donated 185 crore)
Political parties benefited and how much
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has received the highest donation through Electoral Bonds which redeemed bonds worth Rs 6060.5 crore, followed by All India Trinamool Congress which received Rs 1609.50 crore and Congress which received Rs 1421.9 crore.
Other political parties which benefited from the Electoral Bonds scheme include AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JD-S, NCP, JDU, RJD, AAP, the Samajwadi Party, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, BJD, Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, JMM, Sikkim Democratic Front and the Jana Sena Party.
Background
On 15th February this year, the Supreme Court instructed SBI to stop issuing electoral bonds W.E.F the same date and directed the bank to submit details of bonds purchased from 12th April, 2019, till the same date to the Election Commission of India.
The State Bank of India was given time till 6th March, 2024 for submitting the information while the latter was ordered to publish the information shared by SBI on its website by 13th March.
In the first week of March, SBI has appealed to the Supreme Court seeking an extension of more than 3 months time to submit information regarding Electoral Bonds to the Election Commission of India. The bank has filed an application seeking time till June 30, 2024 for submitting the information about the now-scrapped bonds. However, the appeal for extension of deadline by the bank was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 11th March.
The Electoral Bonds scheme allowed anonymous funding to political parties. The scheme was started by the NDA Government in 2018.
