Rs 8,251 cr worth electoral bonds were encashed by BJP, says SBI

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday released the last tranche of data supplied by the State Bank of India (SBI) pertaining to the electoral bonds. The data running into several hundred pages was on “as is where is basis” the ECI said.

This long list released in two parts – one having the party name, bond numbers and date of encashment, and the second giving out details of the companies and individuals who participated in the purchase along with the amount and the parties they donated.

The BJP, encashed the highest number of bonds worth of Rs 8,251.8 crore – close to 50 per cent of the total Rs 16,518 crore. It swept a huge chunk in the first round of collection worth Rs 502 crore through redemption of bonds on April 12, 2019. The Congress got Rs 1,952 crore, and Trinamul Congress Rs 1,705 crore.

'Lottery King’ Future Gaming and Hotel Services that is in news for being the highest donor with Rs 1,368 crore spread its money across several parties, giving the Trinamul Rs 542 crore and the DMK Rs 509 crore. Future Gaming started its donations with the DMK on October 21, 2020, giving it Rs 60 crore, followed by the YSR Congress.

The BJP came later in the picture and got over Rs 100 crore. Future Group is facing ED investigations since 2019 followed by raids in April 2022 and May 2023 in alleged money-laundering cases.

Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited the second largest purchaser, worth Rs 966 crore started its shopping by purchasing Rs 46 crore bonds for the BJP on April 12, and then Rs 12 crore on April 16 and so on. It gave the highest Rs 548 crore to the BJP. The company is now under the radar for getting the contract for Thane-Borivali twin tunnel project.

One of the lawyers in this case in Supreme Court, Prashant Bhushan, has alleged that a large number of these companies have been facing CBI, income-tax and ED action and they have been forced to shell out the money to escape the heat. “Extortion through Electoral Bonds by using CBI, ED and IT. This is the worst type of corruption,” he wrote on X.

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, gave Rs 395 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena. The company, which is described as a manufacturer of warehouses and storage units, gave no money any other political party

Honeywell Properties Private 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 had in response to a detailed questionnaire, said, "Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity." It, however, had not commented on its association with the firm.

Qwik Supply, an unlisted private company, was incorporated on November 9, 2000, with an authorised share capital of Rs 130.99 crore. Its paid-up capital is Rs 129.99 crore.

The firm had a revenue of over Rs 500 crore in 2022-23 (April 2022 to March 2023) but profit numbers were not known. It bought electoral bonds worth Rs 360 crore in 2021-22. In the same year, its net profit was Rs 21.72 crore. It bought another Rs 50 crore worth of bonds in 2023-24. The company has three directors, and one reported key management personnel.

Another interesting donation came from the DLF group which made a total 170 transactions worth a crore each (Rs 170 crore) only to the BJP only. This company was under BJP target during 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign and their land deals linked to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son in law Mr Robert Vadra. However, the EB list shows it is closer to the BJP.