The State Bank of India has revealed details of the donors and recipients of the treasure trove of electoral bonds—sparking a frenzy of media coverage. Are we any wiser? And will any of it matter to voters?
Editor’s note: If you have not been following the electoral bond saga, we highly recommend reading this Big Story—which has all the context you need. Suffice to say, the system allowed companies and individuals to secretly give money to parties—and as much as their little hearts desired. None of which is good for democracy—or so the Supreme Court decided. Now, the State Bank of India has to spill all the beans.
First: how much and to whom?
The State Bank of India released the information in two tranches. First, it released the details of 18,871 bonds sold since April 12, 2019—claiming that the Court had technically only demanded bonds issued since that date. When chastised for splitting hairs, it released information on the rest on Sunday—the remaining 9,159 bonds that were sold between 2018, and 2019. So here is where we are.
The overall numbers: vary from one news outlet to another—for reasons that are mysterious to us:
- According to The Quint, the total amount given in political donations in the form of bonds is Rs 165.18 billion (16,518 crore)—out of which BJP received Rs 87.18 billion (8,718.85 crore.)
- But other publications quote this PTI copy that says the BJP total is Rs 69.86 billion (6,986.5 crore.) There is no overall available.
- Scroll—just to be different—says the total is Rs 164.92 billion (16,492 crore)—and the BJP received Rs 82.52 billion (8,252 crore.)
- The Telegraph published an entirely different PTI wire story which says the BJP received an estimated Rs 77 billion (7,700 crore) out of Rs 165.18 billion (16,518 crore.)
At the very least, everyone agrees that the BJP scored the lion’s share of a very large amount of electoral bonds.
As for the rest: Trinamool is the surprise entry at #2—with Rs 13.97 billion (1,397 crore)—followed by Congress (Rs 13.34 billion (1,334 crore)) and Telangana’s BRS (Rs 13.22 billion (1,322 crore)). Among the others, BJD (Rs 9.4 billion (944.5 crore)) DMK (Rs 6.5 billion (656.5 crore)) and Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress (Rs 4.4 billion (442.8 crore)) are the most notable.
Among the least favoured: AAP received a paltry Rs 654.5 million (65.45 crore)—while JD(S) managed a more respectable Rs 897.5 million (89.75 crore.) At the bottom of the pile: National Conference with Rs 5 million (50 lakh.) Interesting to note: The CPI(M) and BSP said they did not take any money via bonds.
To be fair: The bonds were released over 30 phases since 2018. According to a NewsLaundry analysis, in 22 of these, BJP was the #1 recipient in 13—and Congress most shamefully came ahead in only one. But regional parties enjoyed the occasional windfall. TMC, BRS, Biju Janata Dal and YSR Congress—were the largest receivers in eight phases—typically before the state election.
Point to note: As NewsLaundry points out, the fat cats almost always bet on the winner—except for two occasions:
In the 28th phase in October 2023, the Congress received the highest amount ahead of the five assembly polls, though it only won in Telangana. Similarly in November 2022, the BJP received the highest amount ahead of the Himachal Pradesh polls, but it lost the election.
As in gambling, so in politics: it’s all about backing the winning horse.
Award for the best PR spin: goes to Amit Shah who declared at an India Today Conclave: “The Bharatiya Janata Party has received bonds worth approximately Rs 60 billion (6,000 crore.) The total bonds are worth Rs 200 billion (20,000 crore.) So where did bonds worth Rs 140 billion (14,000 crore) go?” Like Amit-bhai doesn’t know the power of being the single-largest beneficiary—when the next on the list is more than Rs 50 billion (5,000 crore) behind.
Kisne banaya crorepati: Listing the donors
The biggest donor: is ‘Lottery King’ Santiago Martin—owner of Future Gaming and Hotel Services. He purchased bonds worth Rs 13.68 billion (1,368 crore). According to disclosures made by the DMK to the Supreme Court—which were revealed on Sunday—he gave Rs 6.5 billion (656.5 crore) to the party. We don’t know who else benefited from his generosity—since most of the other parties didn’t reveal their donors.
DMK’s revelation: is interesting for a number of reasons. One: There is no way for a party to know who gave them how much money unless the donor reveals themselves. According to DMK, the donors chose to come forward (because why lose credit for a good deed).
And second: DMK got a massive windfall starting the eve of the election—which was held April 6 2021. This is what it received between April 5, 2021 and January 11, 2022: Rs 3.06 billion (306 crore.) In the actual lead-up to the election, DMK only managed Rs 800 million (80 crore). All of which suggests, electoral bonds are also used to reward the winner of an election—like a big, fat ‘congratulations’ kaasu mālai.
FYI: Martin’s shady links with the DMK go back for decades—to the time of Papa Karunanidhi. And he has been flirting with the BJP in recent years.
Point to note: Most of the parties—BJP, Congress or Trinamool—have not shared any details about their donors. Only DMK, AIADMK and JD(S) have done so. The BJP claimed that it did not record the details to protect the privacy of the donors—which was the aim of the electoral bond scheme. Other parties say they don’t know who gave them the money. We leave it to you to decide who deserves the most Pinnochio points.
The big Q: Where are the big boys?
The top ten donors include some big names—Vedanta, Airtel, Essel etc. But the A-list—as in Ambani & Adani—are conspicuously missing.
Are they proxies? That’s the popular theory in many quarters. The marquee names are channelling cash through smaller companies—which has now proved to be a wise precaution. An Indian Express analysis reveals suspicious kaala bits in the donor daal:
With a total paid-up capital of less than Rs 50 million (5 crore), 25 companies on the list.. purchased electoral bonds worth over Rs 2.5 billion (250 crore) — more than 50 times their equity.. Nine of these companies were set up after the EB scheme was announced in 2018. Some of them purchased electoral bonds soon after incorporation.
Hardly surprising, since this kind of skulduggery was written into the system—which removed the previous limit on donations. Companies could not give more than 7.5% of their net profit—and loss-making companies were allowed to give zilch… until the electoral bonds came along.
More instances of skulduggery: A separate NewsLaundry investigation also identified four shell companies—again an inevitable consequence of anonymity—flagged repeatedly by experts both inside and outside the government.
Evidence of blackmail? That’s the popular explanation for the generosity of some donors—which often followed a raid. Indian Express found that three of the five top donors were under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate or the Income Tax department. For example, Future Gaming bought bonds within five days of having its assets frozen by the ED. The Quint offers the similar case of Aurobindo Pharma:
On 10 November 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested P Sarath Chandra Reddy, the director of Aurobindo Pharma, in connection with its money laundering case into alleged irregularities in the Delhi government’s liquor policy. Five days later, on 15 November, Aurobindo Pharma donated electoral bonds worth Rs 50 million (5 crore.)
A minor point of interest: There are no tech players of note—except for paavam Infosys which gave a measly Rs 10 million (1 crore) to JD(S) in 2018. But it pales in comparison to the party’s other donors in the construction biz (which explains most of Bangalore’s woes).
Also entertaining: The tamasha over Hub Power Company—which purchased bonds worth Rs 9.5 million (95 lakh) in 2019… just months after the Pulwama attacks. It was soon cast as a Pakistani company—buying influence (and mercy?) from the BJP. Sadly, it turned out to be yet another fake company—whose owner remains untraceable.
The bottomline: Most reporting has overlooked an equally grave cause for concern: Over Rs 10 billion (1,000 crore) in bonds were bought by donors linked to media houses. For example: Megha Engineering is the second biggest buyer of electoral bonds—and the majority stakeholder in the Hindi news channel TV9 Bharatvarsh. In other words, India Inc is buying influence every which way it can—bribing parties in cash and kind! But do voters care? Maybe not.
Reading list
We recommend checking out full coverage in NewsLaundry’s Electoral Bond project. Indian Express reports on likely proxy companies—and those under investigation by the government agencies. Scroll has more on the Infosys donation and the so-called Pakistani donor. The News Minute has the most on Santiago Martin. The Wire has an important piece on how independent digital outlets led the way on electoral bond reporting.
