New Delhi: Maharashtra-based multinational mining company Vedanta Limited donated Rs 125 crore to the Indian National Congress (INC) — higher than any other entity. All the bonds purchased by the billionaire Anil Agarwal-led company were encashed between April 2021 and November 2023.
Notably, the data on purchasers and encashers of electoral bonds made public by the Election Commission Thursday yielded a surprising name — that of Rithwik Projects Private Limited, whose founder chairman is C.M. Ramesh, a BJP MP in Rajya Sabha. The firm donated Rs 30 crore of the Rs 45 crore worth of bonds it purchased to the INC.
For Vedanta, nearly Rs 50 crore worth of bonds were encashed after the INC’s win in Karnataka during the 2023 assembly elections. Vedanta owns and operates iron-ore mines in the southern state.
“Vedanta Limited is one of the world’s foremost natural resources conglomerates, with primary interests in zinc-lead-silver, iron ore, steel, copper, aluminium, power, oil and gas. With world-class, low-cost, long-life strategic assets based in India and Africa, we are rightly positioned to create long-term value with superior cash flows,” according to the firm’s website.
The only other entity that donated over Rs 100 crore to the INC was Western UP Power Transmission Company Limited, a subsidiary of Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) — the second-largest purchaser of electoral bonds and largest donor to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Ghaziabad-based firm is a non-government company primarily involved in the businesses of electricity, gas and water.
Of the Rs 220 crore donated by the Western UP Power Transmission in total, Rs 110 crore went to the INC, which was encashed between October and November 2023. This was just before assembly polls in five states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Sikkim.
SEPC Power Private Limited Operation Reten, another company associated with Megha infrastructure, donated Rs 30 crore to the party
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh on 16 March posted on social media platform ‘X’, “Infrastructure companies have donated vast sums of money. For instance, the second-largest donor of Electoral Bonds, Megha Engineering, was involved with the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project in Telangana, labelled the ‘world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation project’. Megha constructed some part of the Medigadda Barrage, a key part of the project. It so happens that the Barrage has since started sinking, putting waste to 1 lakh crore worth of taxpayer money.”
Yesterday, after a quick first analysis of the data on the #ElectoralBondScam, four corrupt tactics of the BJP emerged:
1. Chanda Do, Dhandha Lo
2. Hafta Vasuli
3. Theka Lo, Rishvat Do
4. Farzi Company – Dakait Sangni
These four patterns of corruption that have emerged… https://t.co/ISTK4Eah48
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 16, 2024
While Megha Infrastructure turns out to be the biggest donor for the BJP, apart from its two associates, Megha itself donated Rs 18 crore to the Congress.
Also Read: The real question in the electoral bonds issue is – will cash make a comeback?
Other major donors to Congress
Meanwhile, Kolkata-based Sasmal Infrastructure Private Limited, which is part of the Keventer Group, donated Rs 39 crore to the Congress. While MKJ Enterprises, also a part of the Keventer Group of companies, made donations worth Rs 91.6 crore to the party.
Bonds of the company were encashed between July 2021 and November 2023.
At Rs 162 crore, the biggest donation from the healthcare sector was made by Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital of which Rs 64 crore went to the Congress, which the party encashed between October 2021 and October 2023.
Bonds worth at least Rs 41 crore were encashed in October 2023, in the run-up to elections to five states, including Telangana, where Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital is based.
In April 2023, then Congress’s state president Revanth Reddy had accused the then Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s relatives, “who manage Yashoda Hospitals”, of receiving land worth hundreds of crore at “dirt cheap” prices, according to media reports.
Meanwhile, as soon as the list of donors came out last week, the Congress was quick to attack the ruling BJP based on some of the top donors last week.
“The largest electoral bond donor, at almost Rs 1,400 crore, is Future Gaming & Hotels. It turns out that the son of the owner of Future is a member of the BJP, and that the owner himself met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in April 2023, despite facing many CBI cases. How many more fraudulent companies on the list have close BJP links?” Jairam Ramesh posted on ‘X’ on 16 March.
It turns out that the Congress encashed Rs 50 crore worth of bonds from the Future group on 10 April 2023. Apart from that, its allies Trinamool Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) were major benefactors of donations from the firm.
With a paid-up capital (the amount of money a company receives from shareholders in exchange for its shares) of Rs 88 lakh, Kolkata-based Avees Trading Finance Pvt Ltd donated Rs 53 crore of its Rs 112 crore donation to the Congress.
Among the individuals, the INC encashed 10 bonds worth Rs 10 lakh in April 2023 from billionaire entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
This is an updated version of the report.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)