Electoral bonds: Trinamool top beneficiary of ‘Lottery King’ donors

Apart from the Trinamool Congress, Future Gaming also donated Rs 509 crore to the DMK, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu.

New Delhi:

According to SBI data, the Trinamool Congress received at least Rs 540 crore worth of electoral bonds from Future Gaming, making it the largest beneficiary of donations from “lottery king” Santiago Martin, who has also donated money to DMK, YSR Congress, BJP and The Congressional Contributions to Electoral Commission released Thursday.

The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha and the Sikkim Democratic Front also received some funds from the largest buyers of electoral bonds, which were launched by the BJP government in March 2018 and canceled last month.

While a number of high-profile corporates bought the bonds during the scheme, the largest donor to the political party was Future Gaming, which bought bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore.

Apart from the Trinamool Congress, Future Gaming has also donated Rs 509 crore to the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, nearly Rs 160 crore to the YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh and Rs 100 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party. , donated 500 million rupees to the Congress Party.

Sikkim is one of the few states where lotteries are legal and the total amount received by the two parties from Future Gaming is less than 100 million rupees.

The second largest donor is understood to be Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering, which has given Rs 966 crore to parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bharat Rashtra Samiti and DMK.

Qwik Supply is the third largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds, buying Rs 410 crore of bonds between 2021-22 and 2023-24 and giving Rs 395 crore to the BJP, Rs 395 crore to the Shiv Sena 250 million rupees were provided.

The BJP is a major recipient of funds from large conglomerates such as Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Muthoot, Bajaj Auto, Jindal Group and TVS Motor.

The Electoral Commission on Thursday released a new set of electoral bond data that includes alphanumeric numbers that can help match buyers to parties that have received funds.

The Vedanta Group has donated money to the BJP Congress, BJD and TMC, while Bharti Airtel has donated money to the BJP, RJD, SAD, Congress and Bihar Janta Dal (United).

Muthoot donated to BJP, NCP Maharashtra, Bajaj Group donated to BJP, AAP Apollo Tires donated to Congress, Keventers donated to BJP and Congress.

Industrialist Lakshmi Niwas Mittal donated money to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while Biocon chairman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw donated money to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), TMC and congressional contributions. Rungta Sons Private Limited has donated money to Congress, BJP, TMC and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha.

Pharmaceutical companies Piramal Capital and Sun Pharma donated to the BJP, Torrent Pharmaceutical Limited donated to the BJP, AAP and Congress, and Natco Pharma donated to the BJP, TDP, TMC and BRS.