Newsinc24 Team Future Gaming and Hotel Services, the top purchaser of electoral bonds, a funding tool for political parties, donated Rs 509 crore to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Tamil Nadu's ruling party. the Election Commission data, released on Sunday, said that Megha Engineering (Rs 105 crore), India Cements (Rs 14 crore) and Sun TV (Rs 100 crore) were other major donors of the DMK which was among the few political parties to disclose the identity of the donors.
As per the data, the ruling BJP was the biggest overall recipient (Rs 6,986.5 crore) of the bonds since they were introduced in 2018. The Trinamool Congress was the second biggest recipient (Rs 1,397 crore) followed by Congress (Rs 1,334 crore), BRS (Rs 1,322 crore) and Odisha's ruling party BJD at Rs 944.5. The DMK was the sixth biggest recipient.The Samajwadi Party earned Rs14.05 crore via electoral bonds.Akali Dal received Rs 7.26 crore, AIADMK Rs 6.05 crore, National Conference Rs 50 lakh, the Election Commission's data said. CPI(M), AIMIM, BSP said they didn't receive any funds through electoral bonds.
Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited, which is run by Santiago Martin, commonly known as "Lottery King", emerged as the largest donor. The firm has donated Rs 1368 crore between 2019 and 2024.The Election Commission made public fresh data on electoral bonds, which it had submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and was later asked to put it in public domain. These details are believed to be from the period before April 12, 2019.
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