Electoral Bonds: Who Gave The Most To Which Party?

In line with the directives of the Supreme Court of India, India's largest public banker—the State Bank of India—has released a fresh data set of electoral bonds detailing the parties and whose bonds they encashed on Thursday.

To be sure, the data on the Election Commission of India website does not reveal the dates on which the bonds were encashed by a particular party, but it matches the donors and the political parties that encashed the funds—a move that identifies the top sources of political funding for India's biggest parties.

The poll body published two separate lists of donors and recipients of donations made between April 2019 and January 2024 on Thursday. It includes alphanumeric numbers associated with the electoral bonds that can identify the donor and the recipient.

The biggest donors to the Indian National Congress include Western UP Power Transmission Co., Vedanta Ltd., MKJ Enterprises Ltd., Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital and Avees Trading Finance Pvt., according to the data.

Top donors to India's ruling political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, include Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd., Quick Supplychain Pvt., Vedanta Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Madanlal Ltd.

West Bengal's Trinamool Congress enchased its highest-value bonds from Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt., Haldia Energy, Dhariwal Infrastructure and IFB Agri Industries Ltd., among others.

Data revealed that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party encashed Rs 65.25 crore over the years of which top donors to AAP include:

• Avees Trading Finance Pvt., contributing Rs 10 crore.

• Bajaj Auto Ltd.: Rs 8 crore.

• MKJ Entreprises Ltd. and Transways Exim Pvt. at Rs 7 crore each.

• Asian Trading Co. and Torrent Power at Rs 5 crore each.

The All India Congress Committee is the central decision-making body of the Indian National Congress, one of India's oldest political parties.

Top donors to the AICC include:

• Western UP Power Transmission Co., contributing Rs 110 crore.

• Vedanta Ltd., contributing Rs 104 crore.

• MKJ Enterprises Ltd.: Rs 69.35 crore.

• Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital: Rs 64 crore.

• Avees Trading Finance Pvt.: Rs 53 crore.

• Top donor Future Gaming and Hotel Services offered Rs 50 crore to the Congress party.

Top donors to West Bengal's majority party, led by Mamta Banerjee are:

• Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt.: Rs 542 crore.

• Haldia energy, the West Bengal-based energy company, contributed Rs 281 crore.

• Dhariwal Infrastructure: Rs 90 crore.

• IFB Agri Industries Ltd.: Rs 42 crore.

• Chennai Green Woods Pvt. and PCML Ltd. at Rs 40 crore each.

The top donors to India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP also feature in the top 10 donors overall, with majority of contributions coming from:

• Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd. at Rs 584 crore.

• Quick Supplychain Pvt.: Rs 375 crore.

• Vedanta Ltd.: Rs 226.65 crore.

• Bharat Airtel Ltd.: Rs 183 crore

• Madanlal Ltd.: Rs 175.5 crore.

• Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd.: Rs 144.5 crore.

• DLF Commercial Developers at Rs 130 crore and Birla Carbon India Ltd. at Rs 100 crore.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi or the former Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the chief opposition party in the state of Telangana, that is led by leader K Chandrashekar Rao encashed its highest value bonds from:

• Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd. at Rs 195 crore.

• Yasodha Super Speciality Hospital: Rs 94 crore.

• Chennai Green Woods Pvt.: Rs 50 crore.

• Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.: Rs 32 crore.

• Hetero Drugs Ltd.: Rs 30 crore.   

Biju Janata Dal, led by Odisha supremo Naveen Patnaik, encashed its highest value electoral bonds from the following :

• Essel Mining and Industries Ltd.: Rs 174.5 crore.

• Jindal Group: Rs 130 crore.

• Rashmi Group: Rs 72 crore.

• Utkal Group: Rs 70 crore.

• Rungta Sons Pvt.: Rs 50 crore.

The Tamil Nadu ruling party led by state leader Stalin received its highest value electoral bonds from the Tamil Nadu-registered lottery company Future Gaming.

Top donors include:

• Future Gaming and Hotel Services at Rs 503 crore.

• Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd.: Rs 85 crore.

• Westwell Gases Pvt.: Rs 8 crore.

• Askus Logistics Pvt.: Rs 7 crore.

• Fertileland Foods: Rs 5 crore.

The Telugu Desam Party, which yields influence in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and is currently led by leader N Chandrababu Naidu, received its highest value denomination bonds from:

• Shirdi Sai Electricals Pvt.: Rs 40 crore.

• Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd.: Rs 28 crore.

• Western UP Power Transmission Co.: Rs 20 crore.

• Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.: Rs 13 crore.

• Bharat Biotech International Ltd.: Rs 10 crore.

The YSR party, abbreviated from Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party, which is led by leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh received much of its bond donations from:

• Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt.: Rs 154 crore.

• Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd.: Rs 37 crore.

• Ostro Group: Rs 34 crore.

• Ramco Cements Ltd.: Rs 24 crore.

• Sneha Kinetic Power Projects Pvt.: Rs 10 crore.