Electoral Bonds: EC uploads data shared by SBI; lottery firm tops donor list with Rs 1,368 cr

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Thursday made the data on electoral bonds public. Following a Supreme Court directive, the State Bank of India had shared the data with the poll panel on March 12. The top court had given the Election Commission time till 5 pm of March 15 to upload the data on its website. The EC has put the details on 'Disclosure of Electoral Bonds submitted by SBI' in two parts.

The biggest donor, according to the list released Thursday by the Election Commission, is a little known lottery company called Future Gaming and Hotel Services.

The better known names include steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, DLF, PVR, Birlas, Bajajs, Jindals, Spicejet, IndiGo and the Goenkas.

Future Gaming and Hotel Services purchased possibly the highest amount of bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore, followed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd at Rs 966 crore. Future Gaming was probed by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2022.

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.

While it is already known that the ruling BJP received the highest amount of donation of over Rs 6,000 crore followed by the Congress party, the data dump only disclosed the amount donated by each entity or individual. It does not say who donated to which party.
Read More: Electoral Bonds: Did Supreme Court fall into SBI's trap by waiving matching requirement?

In a landmark verdict delivered on February 15, a five-judge Constitution bench had scrapped the Centre's electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it "unconstitutional" and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and the recipients. 

Some of the Kerala companies in the list:
Kitex -  Rs 25 crore
Muthoot Finance  - Rs 3 crore
Lulu - Rs 2 crore
Geojit - Rs 10 lakh

Following are the top buyers of scrapped electoral bonds:
Future Gaming and Hotel Services - Rs 1,368 crore
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd - Rs 966 crore
Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd - Rs 410 crore
Vedanta Ltd - Rs 400 crore
Haldia Energy Ltd - Rs 377 crore
Bharati Group - Rs 247 crore
Essel Mining and Industries Ltd - Rs 224 crore
Western UP Power Transmission - Rs 220 crore
Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd - Rs 194 crore
Madanlal Ltd - Rs 185 crore
DLF Group - Rs 170 crore
Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital - Rs 162 crore
Utkal Alumina International - Rs 145.3 crore
Jindal Steel and Power Ltd - Rs 123 crore
Birla Carbon India - Rs 105 crore
Rungta Sons - Rs 100 crore
Dr Reddy's - Rs 80 crore
Piramal Enterprises Group - Rs 60 crore
Navyuga Engineering - Rs 55 crore
Shirdi Sai Electricals - Rs 40 crore
Edelweiss Group - Rs 40 crore
Cipla Ltd - Rs 39.2 crore
Lakshmi Niwas Mittal - Rs 35 crore
Grasim Industries -Rs 33 crore
Jindal Stainless - Rs 30 crore
Bajaj Auto -Rs 25 crore
Sun Pharma Laboratories - Rs 25 crore
Mankind Pharma - Rs 24 crore
Bajaj Finance - Rs 20 crore
Maruti Suzuki India - Rs 20 crore
Ultratech - Rs 15 crore
TVS Motors - Rs 10 crore