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Electoral bonds: DMK got 509 crore from Santiago Martin's lottery firm

Mar 17, 2024 07:34 PM IST

The Congress party redeemed a total of ₹1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Sunday revealed fresh data linked to the electoral bonds scheme. The poll body had submitted these details in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and was later ordered to make the data public. Per the fresh details, MK Stalin-led DMK received 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including those purchased by Santiago Martin's lottery-selling firm, Future Gaming company.

 Santiago Martin's firm donated the highest amount of money to political parties.
Santiago Martin's firm donated the highest amount of money to political parties.

"Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court's order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website," EC said in a statement.

DMK received 77 percent of its total proceeds from the firm owned by Martin, who has been under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate.

Here are the key takeaways from the electoral bonds revelations:

  1. Per the data, Tamil Nadu's ruling party received 509 crore as anonymous donations from Martin's company.
  2. DMK is among a few political parties who disclosed the identities of their donors. Megha Engineering donated 105 crore to MK Stalin's party, India Cements 14 crore and Sun TV 100 crore.
  3. The Congress party redeemed a total of 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.
  4. BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling 6,986.5 crore.
  5. The ruling party's encashed maximum 2,555 crore during 2019-20.
  6. Odisha's BJD encashed electoral bonds worth 944.5 crore.
  7. YSR Congress encashed 442.8 crore and TDP 181.35 crore.
  8. The Trinamool Congress is the second largest recipient of donations through the electoral bonds scheme. It received 1397 crore.
  9. K Chandrashekar Rao's BRS is the fourth largest recipient after BJP, Trinamool and Congress. They cashed bonds worth 1322 crore.
  10. The Samajwadi Party earned 14.05 crore via electoral bonds.
  11. Akali Dal received 7.26 crore, AIADMK 6.05 crore, National Conference 50 lakh, the Election Commission's data said.
  12. CPI(M), AIMIM, BSP said they didn't receive any funds through electoral bonds.

Also read: Electoral bonds: Who is ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin, whose firm donated 1368 crore?

On Thursday, the Election Commission released the first list of entities and individuals who purchased electoral bonds to make political donations.

Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited, which is run by Santiago Martin, commonly known as "Lottery King", emerged as the largest donor. The firm has donated 1368 crore between 2019 and 2024.

Last month, the Supreme Court of India scrapped the electoral bonds scheme, calling it unconstitutional.

With inputs from PTI

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