Electoral bonds data: Who got how much? List of top buyers, beneficiaries of now-banned funding tool

The Election Commission of India (ECI) published data regarding political donations through electoral bonds on its website late Thursday (Mar 14). The data, furnished after an order by India’s Supreme Court, revealed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the biggest beneficiary of the now-banned scheme having received INR 6,000 crore ($732 million) over the last five years.

The ECI sourced the data from the State Bank of India (SBI), encompassing bonds totalling INR 16,518 crore ($1.9 billion).

Prominent Indian industrialists and companies, like steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Airtel's Sunil Bharti Mittal, Vedanta, ITC, and Mahindra and Mahindra featured on the list of buyers of the electoral bonds.

The apex court last month struck down the opaque political funding regime, calling it ‘illegal and unconstitutional.’ The BJP introduced the schemein 2017, terming it a crucial milestone in the fight against ‘black money’ in Indian elections.

Top beneficiaries of the scheme

According to the ECI data, the BJP emerged as the top beneficiary, followed by All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), which received INR 1,609.50 crore ($192 million) via electoral bonds. India’s main opposition Congress party occupied the third spot, with funding totalling INR 1421 crore ($171 million).

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) also encashed electoral bonds worth more than INR 500 crore each ($60 million) during the specified period. Other parties that redeemed electoral bonds include AIADMK, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, JDS, NCP, JDU, RJD, AAP, and the Samajwadi Party, according to the data.

Top buyers of electoral bonds

Here is the list of top buyers of the electoral bonds.

Future Gaming and Hotel Services - Rs 1,368 crore

Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd - Rs 966 crore

Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd - Rs 410 crore

Vedanta Ltd - Rs 400 crore

Haldia Energy Ltd - Rs 377 crore

Bharati Group - Rs 247 crore

Essel Mining and Industries Ltd - Rs 224 crore

Western UP Power Transmission - Rs 220 crore

Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd - Rs 194 crore

Madanlal Ltd - Rs 185 crore

DLF Group - Rs 170 crore

Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital - Rs 162 crore

Utkal Alumina International - Rs 145.3 crore

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd - Rs 123 crore

Birla Carbon India - Rs 105 crore

Rungta Sons - Rs 100 crore

Dr Reddy's - Rs 80 crore

Piramal Enterprises Group - Rs 60 crore

Navyuga Engineering - Rs 55 crore

Shirdi Sai Electricals - Rs 40 crore

Edelweiss Group - Rs 40 crore

Cipla Ltd - Rs 39.2 crore

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal - Rs 35 crore

Grasim Industries -Rs 33 crore

Jindal Stainless - Rs 30 crore

Bajaj Auto -Rs 25 crore

Sun Pharma Laboratories - Rs 25 crore

Mankind Pharma - Rs 24 crore

Bajaj Finance - Rs 20 crore

Maruti Suzuki India - Rs 20 crore

Ultratech - Rs 15 crore

TVS Motors - Rs 10 crore.

The SBI revealed that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were bought between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2024, with most being redeemed by political parties.

Concerns raised by opposition

Controversies erupted soon after the ECI made the data public. India's main opposition Congress party alleged a discrepancy in the number of entries in donor and recipient files.

Congress leader Amitabh Dubey on Thursday said, "The donors' file has 18,871 entries, the recipients' file has 20,421 entries. Why the discrepancy."

He also inquired about the missing data between 2017 and 2019. The leader asked why the data shared period from April 2019 even though the scheme was introduced in 2017.

(With inputs from agencies)