E-Paper
DMK received ₹509-Cr worth electoral bonds from ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin
Santiago Martin’s company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, purchased electoral bonds worth ₹1,368 crore between April 12, 2019 and February 2024, of which 37% went to the DMK
Around 80% of the electoral bonds that Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) received since 2019 were donated by controversial ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin based in the state, who is also the highest electoral bond donor in the country.
Martin’s company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, which is operational in multiple states, purchased electoral bonds worth ₹1,368 crore between April 12, 2019 and February 2024, of which 37% went to the DMK.
The DMK received ₹656.50 crore worth of electoral bonds between 2019 and November 14, 2023, out of which a major ₹509 crore came from Martin, according to details shared by the Election Commission of India (ECI) following the Supreme Court verdict. The DMK is one of the few parties that have disclosed the names of the donors of the electoral bonds.
Martin, who goes by the moniker ‘Lottery Martin’, has been under the scanner of federal investigative agencies, such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), since 2016 for alleged lottery fraud in several states.
Hyderabad-based firm, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), the second top donor of electoral bonds, is also the second largest contributor to the DMK to the tune of ₹105 crore.
During the crucial 2021 assembly elections, which the DMK swept, and subsequent urban local body in February 2022, Martin had donated ₹249 crore (during the 2021-2022 fiscal year).
The Future Gaming and Hotel Services contributed ₹60 crore in 2020-2021, ₹160 crore (2022-2023), and ₹40 crore (2023-till date). However, Martin’s firm didn’t sponsor any electoral bond to the DMK in 2019-2020, according to a letter written by party treasurer, T R Baalu, to the ECI on November 14, 2023, disclosing the details of the bonds it had received. “We have transparently disclosed the election funds received without showing any favours to anyone,” DMK’s parliamentary party leader T R Baalu said on the release of the data.
Despite accepting donations through electoral bonds, the DMK has been strident in its opposition to the scheme introduced by political opponent BJP-led Union government. Chief minister and DMK president M K Stalin welcomed the Supreme Court judgement striking down electoral bonds. “This judgement has restored democracy and a level playing field for all political parties. It has also ensured the common man’s faith in the system,” Stalin said on February 15.
Meanwhile Tamil Nadu’s principal opposition, the AIADMK, who walked out of the BJP alliance last September, received bonds worth only ₹6 crore, which was majorly donated by the Indian Premier League (IPL) team, Chennai Super Kings, owned by India Cements. The AIADMK received the entire amount in April 2019 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and by-polls to 22 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu. The by-polls were crucial for the AIADMK to continue in government with the party winning 9 of the 22 seats.
India Cements of N Srinivasan, the former chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), had also donated ₹14 crore to the DMK. Martin and his family members are closely associated with the DMK and the BJP in Tamil Nadu and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala.
On his return, he founded the Martin Lottery Agencies Ltd in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, a city that he is associated with closely till date. While he was already operating in the two southern states and Karnataka, after Tamil Nadu banned the lottery in 2003, he expanded his business moving to the north-east. Simultaneously he also began diversifying into hospitality and real estate. This February, his son-in-law Aadhav Arjun, joined the DMK’s ally, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a prominent Dalit party in Tamil Nadu. Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Martin’s wife Leema Rose joined the Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK) of Tamil media baron and educationist T Pachamuthu and appeared on stage with the then NDA prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during a rally in Coimbatore.
In 2015, Martin’s elder son Jose Charles joined the BJP when Tamilisai Soundarajan was the state president of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. In 2011, going by the name ‘S Martin’ he produced a film ‘Ilaignan’ (meaning youth in Tamil) scripted by late DMK patriarch and five-time chief minister M Karunanidhi. This drew the ire of political rival, AIADMK’s J Jayalalithaa, who after coming to power in 2012 arrested Martin under the Goondas Act and he was jailed for eight months in a land grabbing case. It was eventually quashed by the Madras high court.
