Coimbatore-based lottery company Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd was the top donor to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), donating a staggering Rs 542 crore, electoral bonds data made public by the Election Commission on 21 March 2023 shows.
After the Supreme Court rap, the State Bank of India (SBI) submitted the complete electoral bonds data including unique alphanumeric codes which link the donor or companies with political parties.
According to data scrutinised by The Quint, lottery magnate Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming donated a whopping Rs 542 crore to TMC between November 2020 and October 2023.
Martin’s firm, which has had several run-ins with central investigative agencies including Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has donated the maximum amount in electoral bonds – to the tune of Rs 1,368 crore, data released earlier had shown.
Sanjiv Goenka-Helmed Haldia Energy, Others Top Donors To TMC
After Future Gaming, TMC received the most donations from Kolkata-based Haldia Energy Ltd. The company, helmed by Sanjiv Goenka, donated Rs 281 crore. The architecture and engineering firm purchased poll bonds worth Rs 377 crore between May 2019 and January 2024, data released earlier had shown. This means that it donated over 74.5 percent, or three quarter of its poll bonds in value, to the TMC.
Sanjiv is the brother of noted businessman Harsh Goenka and is the founder and chairman of RPSG Group. In October 2021, Sanjiv paid close to a billion dollars to buy Indian Premier League's (IPL) Lucknow franchise and Indian Super League (ISL) team Mohun Bagan.
The third biggest donor to Didi’s TMC is Kolkata-based Dhariwal Infrastructure Ltd, making donations worth Rs 90 crore. The real-estate firm was registered on 3 October 2006, and its six directors including Rajendra Jha and Maitrayee Sen and Bhaskar Kumar, according to Zauba Corp. It purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 115 crore.
Sanjiv Goenka-owned power generation firm CESC had acquired 51 percent stake in Dhariwal Infrastructure in August 2009, as per a report in The Economic Times.
Keventer Foodpark, MKJ Enterprises Among Top-10 Donors to TMC
MKJ Enterprises Ltd and Keventer Foodpark Infra Pvt Ltd — both registered in Kolkata — donated Rs 68 crore and Rs 20 crore respectively to the TMC.
They were followed by Crescent Power Ltd – a firm based in Kolkata – which donated Rs 42 crore to TMC. According to the company’s website, CPL operates a coal washery and a thermal plant near Asansol in West Bengal. It is one of the businesses of Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG Group.
Chennai Green Woods Private Ltd, a Hyderabad-based construction company, donated Rs 40 crore to TMC. The company is owned by the Ramky Group, whose chairman is YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Ayodhya Rami Reddy. The firm purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 105 crore from January 5, 2022 to October 12, 2023.
After Chennai Green Woods, Prarambh Securities Pvt Ltd donated Rs 38.75 crore to West Bengal’s ruling party. The firm was registered on 10 August 2010 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The brokerage firm’s directors are Kailash Bhanji Patel, Jayesh Girdharbhai Kuwadia, Krunal Jayesh Kuwadia and Virendra Ramchandra Tembe, as per Zauba Corp.
(Editor's Note: There is a slight mismatch in the overall data provided on the EC website as there are some entries with codes missing. We have relied on the codes that have been provided.)
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