Electoral bonds: Subsidiary of BJP's top donor is Congress' second-biggest funder

The BJP received Rs 230.2 crore from Vedanta, making it the third-largest donor for the ruling party.

The ECI data includes the unique alphanumeric number on bonds that establishes the identity of the donor and the recipient.

Out of the Rs 6,061 crore the BJP received through electoral bonds, the top two -- MEIL and Qwik Supply Chain -- account for nearly 16 percent of the total funding garnered by the party.

Mamata Banerjee's TMC received more than half of its total donations from electoral bonds, worth Rs 1,610 crore from Future Gaming and Hotel Services PR (Rs 544 crore) and Bengal-based Haldia Energy (Rs 281 crore).

MEIL group entities include publicly traded Olectra Greentech. This group, along with other investors, also owns Associated Broadcasting Co. Pvt. Ltd (ABCL), the umbrella company for a portfolio of regional news channels under the brand name of TV9.

Overall, the BJP has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the electoral bond scheme, accounting for 47.5 percent of the total funding since April 2019, followed by the TMC, which is a distant second at 12.6 percent. The Congress received Rs 1,422 crore from poll bonds.

In a major verdict, the Supreme Court on February 15 struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional and instructed State Bank of India to furnish purchaser details to the Election Commission.