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The State Bank of India on Thursday, 21 March, submitted to the Election Commission the Alphanumeric Code data of Electoral Bond donations to political parties. The EC subsequently published the data on its website.
This has helped us connect which company gave donations via electoral bonds to which political party.
The BJP received electoral bonds worth over Rs 8700 crore, more than all the other parties put together.
So who are the top donors of the BJP?
(Note: There is no purchaser information for BJP bonds worth Rs 466 crore)
1. Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited - Rs 669 Crore
Hyderabad-based infrastructure company Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited was the highest donor to the BJP, purchasing bonds worth Rs 669 crore.
This includes Rs 584 crore from Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, Rs 80 crore from its subsidiary Western UP Power and Rs 5 crore from SEPC Power, another related company.
The group donated Rs 150 crore to BRS and Rs 60 crore to DMK.
To know more about this company, read this story on the MEIL group by The Quint.
2. MKJ Group - Rs 393 Crore
Kolkata-based MKJ group is the second highest donor to the BJP, at Rs 393 crore. This includes Rs 189 crore from Madanlal Limited, Rs 149 from Keventer Foodpark Limited and Rs 55 crore from MKJ Enterprises.
All firms are part of the same group.
This group gave donations in smaller amounts to the Trinamool Congress and Congress.
3. Qwik Supply Chain - Rs 375 crore
This company is behind the highest single day donation to the BJP - it gave Rs 200 crore on 5 January 2022.
It donated huge amounts on a few other days. The firm has some directors in common with Reliance entities though the group has denied Qwik being its subsidiary.
To know more about it, read this story by The Quint.
4. Aditya Birla Group - Rs 272 crore
The electoral bond donations given by companies connected to the Aditya Birla Group together amount to Rs 272 crore.
This includes:
ABL Investment - Rs 10 crore
Essel Mining - Rs 59 crore
Grasim Industries - Rs 23 crore
Utkal Alumina - Rs 75 crore
Birla Carbon Limited - Rs 105 crore.
5. Vedanta Limited - Rs 254 Crore
Mining giant Vedanta Limited gave Rs 254 crore to the BJP, reveals an analysis of the data published on the Election Commission website.
6. Bharti Airtel - Rs 239 crore
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel gave Rs 239 crore to the BJP. This includes Rs 210 crore from Bharti Airtel, Rs 27 crore from Bharti Telemedia and Rs 2 crore from Bharti Infratel.
7. Torrent Group - Rs 178 crore
Gujarat based Torrent Group donated Rs 178 crore to the BJP as per the data provided on the EC website. This includes
Rs 108 crore by Torrent Power and Rs 70 crore by Torrent Pharma
The Torrent Group is known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sudhir Mehta, the head of the group, was among the industrialists who took on the Confederation of Indian Industry when the latter slammed Modi after the 2002 Gujarat riots that happened during his chief ministership.
8. Sanjiv Goenka Group - Rs 124 crore
Entities associated with the Kolkata based Sanjiv Goenka group donated Rs 124 crore, this includes Rs 99 crore by Haldia Energy and Rs 25 crore by Dhariwal Infrastructure. The group has also donated considerably to the Trinamool Congress.
To know more about the Sanjiv Goenka group, read The Quint's story.
9. Future Gaming - Rs 100 crore
The lottery company, which is the highest donor via electoral bonds in the country, gave Rs 100 crore to the BJP. The DMK is the largest beneficiary from this company.
Read this story by The Quint on Future Gaming founder - 'lottery king' Santiago Martin.
10. Piramal Group - Rs 98 crore
Entities related to Piramal Group gave Rs 98 crore to the BJP via electoral bonds. This includes Rs 40 crore by PHL Finvest, Rs 10 crore by Piramal Capital and Housing, Rs 25 crore by Piramal Enterprises Limited, Rs 3 crore by Piramal Pharma, Rs 10 crore by PRL Developers.
The Quint had already disclosed all these names in our story on BJP's top donors between 2019 and 2023 and during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
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