Top donors
Some of the
As per the report, the MEIL purchased poll bonds worth Rs. 50 crore in April that year.
Another company facing a probe is the Vedanta Group, backed by industrialist Anil Aggarwal. The mining giant is the fifth largest donor having purchased bonds worth Rs. 376 crore. The Vedanta Group is under ED scanner over alleged involvement in the bribe-for-visa case that involved certain Chinese nationals being given visas by alleged bending of rules.
India’s mining and steel companies like Rungta Sons Pvt Ltd, Jindal Steel and Power, Essel Mining and Industries Limited (EMIL) and Dempo were also big time purchasers of bonds, according to the data made public by the Election Commission of India.
While Rungta Sons Pvt Ltd bought bonds worth Rs. 100 crore, EMIL worth Rs. 224.5 crore, JSPL worth Rs. 123 crore and Dempo Rs. 1.5 crore.
Top electoral bond purchasers include logistics and supply chain firm Quik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd – which was established in 2000 at Rs. 410 crore, Haldia Energy Ltd whose plant is located in West Bengal’s Haldia and was established in 2015 worth Rs.
377 crore, Western UP Power Transmission Company at Rs.
220 crore, Bharti Airtel Ltd at Rs. 198 crore, Torrent Power 107 Ltd at Rs. 107 crore, Birla Carbon India Pvt Ltd at Rs. 105 crore, DLF Commercial Developers Ltd at Rs. 130 crore and BG Shirke Construction Technology Pvt Ltd at Rs. 119 crore.
Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd, with registered address at Navi Mumbai’s Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and reportedly having links to Reliance Industries, which purchased bonds worth Rs. 410 crore was the third largest donor.
It bought the bonds between financial years 2021-22 and 202324, but Reliance said the company is not a subsidiary of any of its entities.
Qwik Supply is a manufacturer of warehouses and storage units. The 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.
The company has three directors, and one reported key
management personnel. The longest-serving director currently on board is Tapas Mitra - who incidentally also sits on the board of 25 other companies - was appointed on November 17, 2014. Mitra is a director of partnership firms such as Reliance Eros Productions LLP and companies like Jamnagar Kandla Pipeline Company Private Limited.
Jamnagar Kandla Pipeline is registered in Ahmedabad at an address shared by some other Reliance companies, such as Reliance Paging Private Limited, Jamnagar Ratlam Pipeline Private Limited, Reliance Tankages Private Limited and Reliance Oil and Petroleum Private Limited.
Vipul Pranlal Mehta has been a director on the board of Qwik since December 10, 2019.
He is also a director of eight other companies, including one called Rel Icons and Traders Private Limited.
Sridhar Titti is the most recently appointed director, joining the board on November 27, 2023.
Honeywell Properties Private Limited, which purchased bonds worth Rs 30 crore on April 8, 2021, is another firm with a Reliance link.
One of its two directors, Satyanarayanamurthy Veera Venkata Korlep, has been on the board of several Reliance group firms since 2005. The company also shares its registered address with several group firms.
Filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) showed Reliance Group Support, Reliance Fire Brigade and Reliance Hospital Management together owning 50.04 per cent of Qwik, which provides logistics and supply chain support to Reliance’s retail unit.
A Reliance Industries spokesperson in response to a questionnaire, told news agency PTI: “Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity.”
Nexg Devices Pvt Ltd, a firm linked to Surender Lunia, purchased Rs 35 crore worth of electoral bonds in May 2019 and November 2022. Another firm linked to him, Infotel Business Solutions bought electoral bonds worth Rs 15 crore in May 2019.
He was the one who sold a 29.18 per cent stake in NDTV held by Reliance-linked firms to the Adani Group.
Party-wise amount received is Rs. 6060.51 crore by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rs. 1609.53 crore by the Trinamool Congress, Rs. 1,421.87 crore by the Congress, Rs. 1,214.71 crore by BRS and Rs. 775.50 crore by the BJD.