Electoral bonds: DMK's disclosure shows Future Gaming, Megha Engg as top donors

New Delhi: Future Gaming and Hotel Services donated Rs 509 crore to the DMK through electoral bonds since 2019-20, with Megha Engineering & Infrastructures contributing another Rs 40 crore to Tamil Nadu's ruling party, showed data released by the Election Commission of India on Sunday.

The latest information is based on disclosures of donors' names by a few political parties to the poll panel. Most beneficiaries of the electoral bonds scheme, including the BJP, All India Trinamool Congress, Congress, BRS and BJD, did not disclose the names of donors.

While Future Gaming was the top buyer of electoral bonds, Megha Engineering was the second biggest, data from the commission revealed earlier.

The DMK's main rival, the AIADMK, received donation of Rs 5 crore from cricketing league franchise Chennai Super Kings through electoral bonds, according to the data.

Karnataka-based JDS got Rs 40 crore, about half of its funding, through electoral bonds from Megha Engineering.

Jammu & Kashmir's National Conference declared it had received Rs 50 lakh from Bharti Airtel, while the National People's Party said it did not receive any funding through electoral bonds. The Sikkim Democratic Front declared receipt of Rs 50 lakh by this route - a chunk of it from Alembic Pharmaceuticals.

Data showed BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.5 crore, topping the list of political parties that benefited from the now-scrapped scheme. Of this, Rs 2,555 crore was received in 2019-20.

Disclosures mostly by regional parties
Trinamool Congress stood second, receiving Rs 1,397 crore through electoral bonds, while the Congress got Rs 1,334 crore and Telangana-based BRS collected Rs 1,322 crore.

It was mostly regional parties that shared the donors' data with the poll panel, which made it public as per Supreme Court orders. Some parties claimed they did not have access to donors' names, while others said they were adhering to the electoral bond scheme norms, which mandated anonymity of the donors.

The CPI(M), which has steadfastly opposed the electoral bond scheme, declared that it had not received any funding that way, as did Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The BSP has never revealed names of any of its donors.

With the State Bank of India expected to share 'unique code' data of the electoral bonds on Monday, in line with the apex court's orders, the linkage between donors and recipient political parties is expected to get clearer.

Several parties only shared the date of purchase of the bonds, the bond numbers and denominations, along with dates of receipt and credit. Many parties did not even declare the unique code. Trinamool Congress has written to SBI seeking unique number details.