Fifteen business groups accounted for about 70% or ₹785.985 crore of the ₹1,075.71 crore that the Prudent Electoral Trust (PET), the largest electoral trust in the country, received in FY24, documents available on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website showed.
While the ECI recognises 19 electoral trusts, the contribution reports of only 14 are available on the ECI website. Of these 14, only five electoral trusts, including PET, received donations in FY24. (PTI)
Of the₹1,075.68 crore that PET disbursed to six parties, the BJP received the lion’s share at ₹723.785 crore, or 67.3%, followed by the Congress at ₹156.4 crore or 14.5%. The BRS received ₹85 crore or 7.9% followed by the YRCP at ₹72.5 crore (6.7%) and the TDP at ₹33 crore (3.1%). The Janasena Party received a lone donation of ₹5crore from PET.
While the ECI recognises 19 electoral trusts, the contribution reports of only 14 are available on the ECI website. Of these 14, only five electoral trusts, including PET, received donations in FY24.
The top donors to PET were ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India and DLF, each of which donated ₹100 crore.
Of the ₹75 crore ArcelorMittal donated on January 6, PET transferred ₹65 crore to the BJP and the remaining ₹10 crore to Congress on January 8. The ₹25 crore that Arcelor Mittal donated on February 26 was transferred to BJP on February 28.
This was followed by Hyderabad-based Maatha Projects that donated ₹75 crore.
CESC gave ₹60 crore. Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, or CESC, is part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group. Another RP-Sanjiv Geonka Group entity, Haldia Energy donated ₹10 crore.
Maruti Suzuki India donated ₹60 crore on March 30, 2024, one of the only two donations made that day. The other was a ₹5 crore donation by Om Sri Venkateswara Construction Group. Between March 30 and March 31, PET disbursed funds only twice --- ₹70 crore to BJP and ₹22.43 crore to Congress on March 30.
The Hetero Group, through its subsidiaries Hetero Labs and Hetero Healthcare donated a total of ₹55 crore. The Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical group was the first company in India to launch a generic version of the Remdesivir injection during the pandemic.
Apollo Tyres donated ₹50 crore.
TVS Motors, through TVS Motors and TVS Credit Services donated ₹50 crore. TVS Motors has an 80.69 per cent stake in TVS Credit Services.
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), which had emerged as the second biggest buyer of electoral bonds, donated ₹25 crore directly and another ₹25 crore through its subsidiary Western UP Power Transmission in May 2023.
Cipla donated contributed ₹30.195 crore.
Bharti Airtel, directly and through its subsidiaries Bharti Telemedia (Airtel’s DTH service provider) and Nxtra Data (Airtel’s data centre company) donated a total of ₹29 crore.
PET received 56% of all donations, valued at ₹602.834 crore, for FY24 in 46 days between February 15 and March 31. The Supreme Court had struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional on February 15.
On March 18, the apex court had instructed the ECI to disclose the details of electoral bonds bought and redeemed after April 12, 2019. Between March 19 and March 31, PET got donations worth ₹527.435 crore, or 49 per cent of all donations it received in FY24.
PET gave the biggest cheques after disclosures about the electoral bonds had been made public --- ₹218.5 crore on March 28, and ₹118.17.5 crore on March 30, both to the BJP.
The Chennai-headquartered Murugappa Group, at ₹132.5 crore, made the biggest donations to an electoral trust, just not to PET.
Five companies from the Murugappa Group donated to Triumph Electoral Trust, making it the second largest electoral trust after PET. Except for ₹5 crore that Triumph disbursed to the DMK in March 2024, the remaining ₹127.5 crore donated by the conglomerate was donated to the BJP.
The five group companies are --- EID Parry India ( ₹2 crore in April 2023), Coromandel International ( ₹50 lakh in June 2023 and ₹25 crore in March 2024), Tube Investments of India ( ₹25 crore in March 2024), Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company ( ₹50 crore in March 2024), and CG Power Industrial Solutions ( ₹30 crore in March 2024).
On February 29, the Union Cabinet had approved a proposal by CG Power to set up a semiconductor unit in Gujarat.
CG Power, in partnership with Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corporation and Thailand’s Stars Microelectronics, is setting up an ATMP (assembly, testing, marking, and packaging) unit for specialised chips in Sanand, Gujarat with an investment of ₹7,600 crore, and an output of 15 million chips per day.
Jaybharath Electoral Trust got donations worth ₹9 crore from two Coimbatore-based companies --- Lakshmi Machine Works ( ₹8 crore) and Super Sales India ( ₹1 crore). ₹5 crore was disbursed to the BJP, ₹3 crore to DMK and ₹1 crore to AIADMK.
Kolkata-based Paribartan Electoral Trust got a donation for ₹1 crore RCCPL Private Limited in October 2023 but the trust, in its submission to the ECI, said that the funds were distributed through electoral bonds and hence the details of the recipient are “not required to be disclosed”.
While recipients of electoral bonds did not need to be made public until the Supreme Court’s March 2024 ruling, electoral trusts must declare the names of the donors as well as the names of the parties receiving the donations. However, the trusts are not required to reveal which donor’s donations were routed to which party.
Einzigartig Electoral Trust received ₹18 lakh from five individuals. It disbursed ₹17.25 lakh to the BJP.
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