NEW DELHI: Only four parties gave the details of the election bonds held by them when the Election Commission asked for it. Only DMK and Anna DMK in Tamil Nadu, Deve Gowda-led JDS in Karnataka and Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir have given details of their electoral bonds. Anna DMK and National Conference gave only the figures for 2019, the year when the elections took place. The other two parties gave the figures till 2023.
BJP, which received the highest amount, replied that it is not in possession of the information of the donors as it is not obliged by law to keep it. The Congress informed that only SBI, which issued it, knows whose bond they got. This led to allegations that the money was accepted without even checking if it was tainted. At the same time, DMK, which hid nothing, got into trouble.
DMK received Rs 509 crore from controversial lottery kingpin Santiago Martin. The party received a total of 656.5 crores. Santiago Martin's Future Gaming and Hotel Services Company had bought a bond of Rs 1,368 crore.
Additional information about the bonds received by political parties was released by the Election Commission on its official website today as per the Supreme Court directive. This is the figure from 2018 to 30 September 2023.
What Martin gave to DMK
2020-21: 60 crores
2021-22: 249 crores
2022 - 23: 160 crores
From April 1 to November 14, 2023: 40 crores
4.95 crores for Anna DMK from Super Kings
Anna DMK received Rs 6.05 crore in 2019. Chennai Super Kings, controlled by India Cements, paid 4.95 crores. Coimbatore-based Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd. gave one crore and TV Capital Funds CMD Gopal Srinivasan gave five lakhs in 2019.
JDS received a total of 89.75 crores from companies including Infosys Technologies.
Donation amounts
Left and League without buying bonds
Left parties like CPM, CPI, Forward Bloc and CPI (ML) gave separate replies that they had decided not to buy the bond as a matter of policy and therefore do not have it. Muslim League and BSP only replied that they had not bought bonds.
Highest amount for BJP in 2019 also
66 percent of the donations received by political parties through bonds before the 2019 elections went to the BJP. BJP received about 2658 crores between March 2018 and April 11, 2019. During this time Congress got 530.1 crore, Trinamool Congress got 97.28 crore and Biju Janata Dal got 239 crore.