Election commission data shows 15 prominent corporate figures bought electoral bonds: Report

The 15 notable figures, many of whom hold significant positions in large corporate entities, accounted for ₹158.65 crore or 44.2% of the total.

The Election Commission of India's (ECI) disclosure of electoral bonds data indicates that a total of 333 individuals bought bonds amounting to ₹358.91 crore between April 2019 and January 2024, The Indian Express reported. Among these individuals, 15 notable figures, many of whom hold significant positions in large corporate entities, accounted for ₹158.65 crore or 44.2% of the total, the newspaper found.

The Election Commission released data received from political parties on electoral bonds, which it had given to the Supreme Court in sealed covers. (For Representation)(Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

Here is the list of 15 individuals:

1. Lakshmi Niwas Mittal (ArcelorMittal): ₹35 crore
2. Laxmidas Vallabhdas Merchant (Reliance Life Sciences): ₹25 crore
3. Rahul Bhatia (IndiGo): ₹20 crore
4. Inder Thakurdas Jaisinghani (Polycab Group of Companies): ₹14 crore
5. Rajesh Mannalal Agarwal (Ajanta Pharma Limited): ₹13 crore
6. Harmesh Rahul Joshi & Rahul Jagannath Joshi (Om Freight Group of companies): ₹10 crore each
7. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (Biocon): ₹6 crore
8. Indrani Patnaik: ₹5 crore
9. Sudhakar Kancharla (Yoda Group): ₹5 crore
10. Abhrajit Mitra (Searock Infraproject Private Limited): ₹4.25 crore
11. Sarojit Kumar Dey (JD Agro Development Private Limited): ₹3.4 crore
12. Dilip Ramanlal Thacker (Samudra Real Estate Private Limited; Jade Minerals & Mines Private Limited): ₹3 crore
13. Prakash Balwant Mengane (Shreenath Stapatya India Private Limited): ₹3 crore
14. Nirmal Kumar Bathwal (Penguin Trading & Agencies Limited): ₹2 crore

The Election Commission data released on Sunday showed lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at ₹1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 per cent went to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). These details are for the period before April 12, 2019. Electoral bond details after this date were made public by the EC last week.

The company donated ₹509 crore to Tamil Nadu's ruling party DMK, through the electoral bond. Other major donors of the MK Stalin-led DMK included Megha Engineering ₹105 crore, India Cements ₹14 crore and Sun TV ₹100 crore.

The Election Commission released data received from political parties on electoral bonds, which it had given to the Supreme Court in sealed covers.

The data also showed the BJP received the maximum funds through these bonds at ₹6,986.5 crore since they were introduced in 2018, followed by West Bengal's ruling party Trinamool Congress ( ₹1,397 crore), Congress ( ₹1,334 crore) and BRS ( ₹1,322 crore).