Neither Gautam Adani nor Ambani in electoral bonds list; 10 biggest donors to political parties are-
Following directives from the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has uploaded the electoral bonds data on its website. In a shock to the Opposition, neither Gautam Adani nor Ambani were not in the list of the 10 biggest donors to political parties
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New Delhi, Mar 15: In a huge setback for the Opposition who were expecting Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani to be list of political donors put up by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on its website, they were not in the top 10. This came after the data was shared by the State Bank of India with the poll body on the companies and individuals who purchased electoral bonds and contributed to political parties.
The disclosed data revealed several prominent buyers of electoral bonds, including Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, DLF, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited, and Lakshmi Niwas Mital, the executive chairman of Arcelor Mittal. Other significant contributors included Grasim Industries, Piramal Enterprises, Torrent Power, DLF Commercial Developers, Vedanta Ltd., Apollo Tyres, Edelweiss, PVR, Keventer, Sula Wine, Welspun, and Sun Pharma.
The top 10 donors to political parties are
1) Future Gaming and Hotel Services PR (Rs 1208 crore)
2) Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (Rs 821 crore)
3) Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited (Rs 410 crore)
4) Haldia Energy Limited (Rs 377 crore)
5) Vedanta Limited (Rs 375.65 crore)
6) Essel Mining and Industries Limited (Rs 224.5 crore)
7) Western UP Power Transmission Company Limited (Rs 220 crore)
8) Keventer Foodpark Infra Limited (Rs 195 crore)
9) Madanlal Limited (Rs 185.5 crore)
10) Bharti Airtel Limited (Rs 183 crore)
The disclosed information consisted of two parts: the first part comprised 337 pages detailing the entities purchasing electoral bonds and the dates of purchase, while the second part contained 426 pages outlining the political parties, dates, and amounts of bond redemption. However, specific details about which entity purchased bonds from whom remained undisclosed, including the bond numbers.
Political parties receiving funds through electoral bonds included BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JDS, NCP, Trinamool Congress, JDU, RJD, AAP, and SP.
Introduced as a means for Indian political parties to receive funding or donations, the electoral bond scheme was implemented in 2017-18 but was subsequently declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in February. The State Bank of India issued bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018.
The Election Commission released the data as provided by the State Bank of India on March 12, following the bank's submission of details on entities that purchased electoral bonds and political parties that redeemed them. This disclosure was mandated by the Supreme Court, which set a deadline of March 15 for the EC to publish the data on its website.
Rejecting the SBI's request for an extension until June 30, the apex court instructed the bank to submit all details to the Election Commission by the end of working hours on Tuesday. The Election Commission emphasized its commitment to transparency and disclosure as it published the data on its site, in compliance with the court's directives.