The Election Commission of India (ECI) complied with the Supreme Court’s orders by publicly releasing the electoral bonds data on Thursday. This disclosure came after the State Bank of India submitted the bond data to the election body on Tuesday.
Prominent contributors to political parties include major corporate entities such as Grasim Industries, Megha Engineering, and Piramal Enterprises. The list also features well-known individuals and companies like Apollo Tyres, Lakshmi Mittal, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wine, and Welspun. Among the top donors are Torrent Power, Bharti Airtel, DLF Commercial Developers, and Vedanta Ltd.
Additionally, notable names like Piramal Enterprises Ltd., Muthoot Finance Limited, Pegasus Properties Private Limited, Finolex Cables Ltd, and Lakshmi Niwas Mittal have been reported as contributors. Other entities on the list include Edelweiss Housing Finance Ltd, GHCL Ltd, Jindal Poly Films Limited, ITC Limited, and Vedanta Limited, according to ANI reports.
The largest contributors identified through SBI bonds are Future Gaming And Hotel Services (Lottery Martin) and Megha Engineering And Infrastructure Ltd. Future Gaming And Hotel Services (Lottery Martin) purchased bonds amounting to ₹1,368 crore, while Megha Engineering And Infrastructure Ltd bought bonds worth ₹980 crore, as per EC sources cited by Mint. However, Livemint could not independently verify this claim. According to ECI data, Future Gaming purchased 1368 electoral bonds worth ₹1 crore each since 2019, totaling ₹1368 crore.
Also read: Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay Meets PM Modi During 5-Day Visit to India
The major recipients of funds through electoral bonds include BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JDS, NCP, Trinamool Congress, JDU, RJD, AAP, and SP.
The released data provides insights into donors who have purchased bonds of denominations ranging from ₹1 lakh to ₹1 crore, dating back to April 12, 2019.