New Delhi:

Trinamool Congress got at least Rs 540 crore worth of electoral bonds from Future Gaming, making it the biggest beneficiary of donations made by ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin, who also donated to DMK, YSR Congress, BJP and Congress, according to the SBI data released Thursday by the Election Commission.

Sikkim Krantikari Morcha and Sikkim Democratic Front also got some funds from the biggest purchaser of the electoral bonds, which was started by the BJP government in March 2018 and scrapped last month.

While a plethora of well-known corporates bought the bonds when the scheme was alive, the biggest donor to political parties was Future Gaming, which purchased bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore.

Besides Trinamool Congress, Future Gaming gave Rs 509 crore to Tamil Nadu’s ruling party DMK, nearly Rs 160 crore to Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress Party, Rs 100 crore to BJP and Rs 50 crore to Congress.

The two parties of Sikkim, one of the few states where lottery is legal, together got less than Rs 10 crore from Future Gaming.

The second-biggest donor is known to be Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering, which has given Rs 966 crore to various parties including BJP, Bharat Rashtra Samiti and DMK.

Qwik Supply, the third largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds, bought Rs 410 crore in bonds between 2021-22 and 2023-24 and gave Rs 395 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena.

BJP was the major receiver of funds from big corporate groups like Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Muthoot, Bajaj Auto, Jindal Group and TVS Motor.

The Election Commission on Thursday made public a fresh data set of electoral bonds, including their alpha-numeric numbers that can help match their purchasers with the political parties that received the funds.

Vedanta group gave donations to BJP Congress, BJD and TMC while Bharti Airtel donated to BJP, RJD, SAD, Congress, and Bihar Pradesh Janta Dal (United).

Muthoot donated to BJP, NCP Maharashtra Pradesh, Bajaj group to BJP and AAP Apollo Tyres to Congress, and Keventers to BJP and Congress.

Industrialist Lakshmi Niwas Mittal donated to the BJP, while Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw donated to BJP, TMC and Congress. Rungta Sons Private Limited donated to Congress, BJP, TMC and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha.

Pharmaceutical companies Piramal Capital and Sun Pharma donated to the BJP while Torrent Pharmaceutical Limited donated to the BJP, AAP and Congress, Natco Pharma gave BJP, TDP, TMC and BRS. 

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today came down hard on the State Bank of India for not sharing the complete data on electoral bonds, a scheme that allowed individuals and businesses to donate anonymously to political parties. The court had struck down the scheme and directed the bank to share all details on the donations made in the last 5 years.

Hearing a petition by the Election Commission, the Supreme Court said that the data provided by the Supreme Court was incomplete. The five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, directed SBI to disclose electoral bond numbers as well, in addition to the details it has already shared.

“Who is appearing for the State Bank of India? They have not disclosed the bond numbers. It has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India,” Chief Justice Chandrachud said right at the outset of the hearing.

In its notice to SBI, the Supreme Court bench has asked the bank to explain the lapse during the next hearing on March 18.

The electoral bond numbers would help establish the link between donors and political parties.

Electoral bonds allowed individuals and businesses to donate money to political parties without declaring it. They were introduced by the BJP government in 2018 as an alternative to cash donations and had been pitched as an initiative to bring transparency in political funding.

The Supreme Court struck down the scheme last month, terming it unconstitutional and over concerns that this could lead to a quid pro quo. The court also urged SBI to share all details about the purchase and redemption of the bonds with the Election Commission.

In its petition, the poll panel said the March 11 order had noted that the copies of the documents submitted by it to the court in a sealed cover during the course of the hearing be maintained at the office of the EC.

The EC said it did not keep any copy of the documents and added that those may be returned so that it can comply with the court’s directions.