Megha Engg, Qwik BJP’s top donors

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 21

The Election Commission on Thursday made public a fresh data of electoral bonds, including their alphanumeric numbers that can help match the purchasers with the political parties that received the funds.

Info links donors with parties

• DMK’s biggest donor at Rs 509 cr, Future Gaming gave Rs 150 cr to YSR Cong, besides TMC, BJP
• Qwik Supply Chain having ‘links’ to Reliance Industries gave Rs 395 cr to BJP, Rs 25 cr to Shiv Sena
• Honeywell Properties, another firm with a Reliance link, bought Rs 30 cr bonds, all for BJP

The data submitted by the SBI to the EC on Thursday showed BJP’s biggest donors via electoral bonds were Megha Engineering & Infra (Rs 519 crore), Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd (Rs 375 crore), Vedanta (Rs 226.65 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 183 crore) and Madanlal Ltd (Rs 175.5 crore). Future Gaming, the DMK’s biggest donor and the top purchaser of electoral bonds, donated funds to the Trinamool Congress and the BJP as well through the now-scrapped bearer instruments.

The company, owned by “Lottery King” Santiago Martin, donated at least Rs 285 crore to the TMC till October 2022.

The BJP also got at least Rs 100 crore from Future Gaming, while the YSR Congress got over Rs 150 crore, as per a preliminary analysis of the data. The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha was also among the beneficiaries. As per an earlier disclosure by the DMK, it received Rs 509 crore from Future Gaming.

Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd, a little-known company with a registered address at Navi Mumbai’s Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City and having links to Reliance Industries, gave Rs 395 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena, the data showed.

Qwik Supply, the third largest donor to political parties, bought Rs 410 crore bonds between 2021-22 and 2023-24, and gave all but Rs 25 crore to the BJP. The amount of Rs 25 crore was given to the Shiv Sena in 2022.

Honeywell Properties Pvt Ltd, another firm with a Reliance link, purchased bonds worth Rs 30 crore on April 8, 2021 and gave all of them to the BJP.

When the Reliance connection first came to light last week, a Reliance Industries spokesperson said, “Qwik Supply Chain is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity.” He, however, had not commented on its association with the firm.

Earlier in the day, the SBI told the SC that it had complied with the court order and provided all details of the electoral bonds in its possession to the EC.

“On March 21, the SBI provided/disclosed all details of the electoral bonds which are in its possession and custody to the EC,” SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said in an affidavit filed in the top court. Khara, however, said the complete bank account numbers and KYC details of the political parties had not been made public “as it may compromise the security of the account”.

The SBI has revealed information which will show the name of the purchaser of the bond, its denomination and specific number, the name of the party that encashed it, the last four digits of the bank account number of political parties that redeemed the bond and the denomination and unique number of the bond encashed, the affidavit stated. /Agencies

About The Author

Tribune News Service

The Tribune News Service brings you the latest news, analysis and insights from the region, India and around the world. Follow the Tribune News Service for a wide-ranging coverage of events as they unfold, with perspective and clarity.

#BJP