Electoral bonds data reveals biggest beneficiary of ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin’s firm

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress was the largest beneficiary of donations received from Future Gaming by way of electoral bonds, getting Rs 540 crore from “lottery king” Santiago Martin, says the SBI data released on Thursday (March 21) by the Election Commission.

Future Gaming also donated to DMK, YSR Congress Party, the BJP and the Congress, according to the data. The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha and the Sikkim Democratic Front also received some funds from Future Gaming, the biggest donor to political parties, purchasing bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore.

Besides West Bengal’s ruling party TMC, Future Gaming gave Rs 509 crore to Tamil Nadu’s ruling party DMK, nearly Rs 160 crore to Andhra Pradesh’s YSRCP, Rs 100 crore to the BJP and Rs 50 crore to the Congress.

The two parties of Sikkim, one of the few states where lottery is legal, together got less than Rs 10 crore from Future Gaming.

The biggest contributors

The second-biggest donor of bonds was Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering, which gave Rs 966 crore to various parties, including the BJP, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti, and the DMK, shows the data.

Qwik Supply, the third largest donor, bought bonds worth Rs 410 crore between 2021-22 and 2023-24, and gave Rs 395 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena.

Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd, a little-known company with a registered address at Navi Mumbai’s Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and having links to Reliance Industries, is described as a manufacturer of warehouses and storage units, gave no money any other political party.

BJP’s donors

The BJP, which was the biggest beneficiary of the electoral bonds scheme with total donations exceeding Rs 6000 crore, was the major receiver of funds from big corporate groups like Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Muthoot, Bajaj Auto, Jindal group, and TVS Motor.

The party received Rs 346 crore from Keventers Food Park, MKJ Enterprises, and Madanlal Ltd — three firms with the same Kolkata address. Vedanta contributed Rs 226 crore and Haldia Energy Rs 81 crore.

The BJP also got donations worth Rs 80 crore from Western UP Power and Transmission Company, and Rs 42 crore from Welspun.

Who donated to whom

Barring BJP, Vedanta group also donated to Congress, BJD, and TMC, while Bharti Airtel donated to BJP, RJD, SAD, Congress, and Bihar Pradesh Janta Dal (United).

Vedanta donated Rs 125 crore to the Congress.

Muthoot donated to BJP and NCP, Bajaj group to BJP and AAP, Apollo Tyres to Congress, and Keventers to BJP and Congress.

Industrialist Lakshmi Niwas Mittal donated Rs 35 crore to the BJP, while Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw donated to the BJP, TMC, and Congress. Rungta Sons Private Limited donated to Congress, BJP, TMC and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha.

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

AAP’s donors

AAP received donations from Spicejet and Tech Mahindra.

Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited, BG Shirke Construction Technology Pvt Ltd, Bajaj Auto Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd, Spicejet Limited, Derive Trading and Resorts Private Limit, Vardhman Textiles Ltd and V M Salgaocar Corporation Pvt Ltd were among the major companies that donated electoral bonds to the party.

The Election Commission on Thursday released the alpha-numeric data using which donors could be matched to political parties. The electoral bonds scheme was started by the BJP government in March 2018 and scrapped last month following a Supreme Court order.

(With agency inputs)