While companies made donations of hundreds of crores, individuals too donated large sums in their personal capacity. We take a look at the biggest individual buyers of electoral bonds and to which party did they donate.
1. Laxmi Niwas Mittal Donated Rs 35 Crore to BJP
Laxmi Niwas Mittal, chairman of the UK-based steel conglomerate ArcelorMittal, purchased 35 bonds of one crore each. This makes him the highest individual donor of electoral bonds.
The latest electoral bonds data released by the ECI reveals that Mittal purchased all 35 bonds on 18 April 2019 and these were encashed by the BJP within two days i.e. on 20 April 2019. This is the period when India was going through the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
2. Laxmidas Vallabhdas Asmita Mercha Donated Rs 25 Crore to BJP
This individual bought 25 bonds of one crore each on 17 November 2023. Which makes the person the second biggest individual donor. All these bonds were encashed by the BJP just three days later on 20 November 2023.
According to a report by The Reporter's Collective, the person is director of at least six companies linked to Reliance’s takeover of the Network18 media conglomerate.
The report, however, identifies him as Laxmidas Vallabhdas Merchant, who is a director in a number of Reliance group companies.
3. KR Raja JT Donated Rs 25 Crore to BJP
Interestingly, the bond-buying pattern of KR Raja JT has a lot of similarity with Laxmidas Vallabhdas Asmita Mercha. This person, too, purchased 25 bonds of one crore each on 17 November 2023, and all these bonds, too, were encashed by the BJP just three days later on 20 November 2023.
The identity of this individual has not been ascertained.
4. Rahul Bhatia Donated Rs 20 Crore Between NCP, AITMC, Congress and BJP
Rahul Bhatia, who is the promoter of India's biggest airline – IndiGo – purchased 29 electoral bonds on 7 April 2021. Out of these 29 bonds, 19 were of rupees one crore each and 10 were of rupees 10 lakh each.
According to the data released by the ECI, Rs 3,80,00,000 worth of Bhatia's electoral bonds were encashed by the Nationalist Congress Party on 9 April. Whereas Rs 15,20,00,000 worth of bonds were encashed by All India Trinamool Congress on 12 April.
Bhatia's company Interglobe Aviation Limited bought five bonds worth rupees one crore each on 4 October 2023. All of which were encashed by the Congress party on 6 October 2023.
Another of Bhatia's company, Interglobe Air Trasport Limited, purchased 11 bonds of one crore each on 10 May 2019. This lot was encashed by the BJP on 14 May 2019, which was amid the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
5. Inder Thakurdas Jaisinghani Donated Rs 14 Crore to BJP
Fourteen bonds of one crore each were purchased by Inder Thakurdas Jaisinghani, chairman and managing director of Polycab India, which makes electrical wires and cables. Ten of these bonds were purchased on 06 April 2023. These bonds were encashed by the BJP on 12 April 2023.
Jaisinghani bought a second lot of four bonds on 10 October 2023. These, too, were encashed by the BJP, on 19 October 2023.
6. Rajesh Mannalal Agrawal Donated Rs 13 Crore Between BRS, Congress and BJP
Rajesh Mannalal Agrawal is joint managing director of Ajanta Pharma, a Mumbai-based internationally-operated pharmaceutical company. He bought two bonds of one crore each on 03 January 2022. Both were encashed by the Congress on 12 January 2022.
On 7 April 2022, Agrawal purchased another five bonds of one crore each. These were encashed by the BJP on 18 April 2022.
Agrawal, then, made another purchase of five bonds of one crore each on 05 April 2023. These were encashed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi on 13 April 2023.
Agrawal's next bond purchase consisted of just one bond of one crore on 06 October 2023, which was encashed by the Congress on 13 October 2023.
His company, Ajanta Pharma, separately bought three electoral bonds of one crore each on 10 October 2022. These were encashed by the BJP on 15 October 2022.
7. Rahul Jagannath Joshi Donated Rs 10 Crore to BJP
Rahul Jagannath Joshi, who is serving as a director to a number of private limited companies, bought bonds a total of ten bonds of one crore each. Five of these were purchased on 10 January 2022, which were encashed the BJP on 14 January 2022. The next purchase of five bonds occurred on 20 November 2023, which was again encashed by the BJP, on 23 November 2023.
8. Harmesh Rahul Joshi Donated Rs 10 Crore to BJP
Harmesh Rahul Joshi, who seems to be serving as director on the same companies as Rahul Jagannath Joshi, also purchased bonds worth Rs 10 crore. He got five bonds of one crore each on 10 January 2022, similar to Rahul Jagannath Joshi. Again, these were encashed by BJP on 14 January 2022. Following the similar pattern as Rahul Jagannath Joshi, the next bond purchase of Harmesh Rahul Joshi happened on 20 November 2023. These were encashed by the BJP on 23 November 2023.
9. Raju Kumar Sharma Donated Rs 10 Crore To BJP
Raju Kumar Sharma, another obscure individual among the top individual buyers of electoral bonds, bought 10 bonds of one crore each on 14 January 2020. All of these were encashed by the BJP on 21 January 2020.
10. Anita Hemant Shah Donated Rs 8.2 Crore to BJP
Anita Hemant Shah purchased 10 bonds on 12 October 2023. Eight of these were one crore each and two were of 10 lakh each. These were encashed by the BJP on 16 October 2023. The identity of Shah could also not be ascertained.
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