Electoral bonds data made public,Lottery King top donor

The list of entities which purchased electoral bonds to make political donations is a veritable Who's Who of the corporate world. But possibly the biggest donor, according to the list released Thursday by the Election Commission, is a little known lottery company called Future Gaming and Hotel Services.The better known names include steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, DLF, PVR, Birlas, Bajajs, Jindals, Spicejet, IndiGo and the Goenkas.
Future Gaming and Hotel Services purchased possibly the highest amount of bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore, followed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd at Rs 966 crore. Future Gaming was probed by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2022.The data shared by the poll panel reveals the purchase of now-scrapped electoral bonds of denominations between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore, since April 12, 2019. The information also showcases purchases made by both companies and individuals.The data also revealed that recipients of funds through electoral bonds include BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress and other political parties.The data pertains to purchases of bonds of denominations between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1 crore dating back to April 12, 2019, and reveals purchases by companies as well as individuals.  
The EC's website has two lists. The first is of companies that purchased electoral bonds, along with the denomination and dates. The other has names of the political parties as well as the denominations of the bonds and the dates on which they were encashed. There is, however, no way of correlating the lists and finding out which company or individual had donated to which party.The company that contributed the most through the method is Future Gaming and Hotel Services PR, which bought bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore. Megha Engineering And Infrastructures Limited was second, purchasing bonds worth Rs 966 crore. 
At Rs 410 crore, Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited was a distant third, followed by Vedanta Limited at Rs400 crore and Haldia Energy Limited at Rs 377 crore. Bharti Group is sixth, having donated Rs 247 crore, followed by Essel Mining And Inds Ltd at Rs 224 crore. The remaining three in the list of top 10 donors are Western UP Power Transmission Company Limited, which contributed Rs 220 crore, Keventer Foodpark Infra Ltd, which gave Rs 195 crore, and Madanlal Ltd at Rs 185 crore.

Soon after the Election Commission released electoral bonds data, the Congress on Thursday said there was a discrepancy in the numbers of entries in donor and recipient files — 18,871 against 20,421.It also asked why the data shared pertained to a period from April 2019 even though the scheme for anonymous political funding was introduced in 2017.Amitabh Dubey, in charge of research and monitoring in the Congress’ communication department, said the electoral bond scheme began in 2017, but the data presented began in April 2019.
The parties that redeemed electoral bonds include the BJP, Congress, AIADMK, BRS, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSR Congress, DMK, JD-S, NCP, Trinamool Congress, JDU, RJD, AAP, the Samajwadi Party, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, BJD, Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, JMM, Sikkim Democratic Front, and the Jana Sena Party.