Electoral bonds: Top real estate developers donate over Rs 630 crore to parties

BJP received about 48 percent of all electoral bonds encashed by political parties since the start of 2019-20 and before it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

Top 25 real estate developers have donated more than Rs 630 crore to political parties in electoral bonds with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) receiving the highest share of Rs 314 crore, according to data released by the Election Commission and compiled by the State Bank of India.

Other parties like the Congress received about Rs 98 crore, Shiv Sena received Rs 87 crore, All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rs 41 crore and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) received more than Rs 90 crore.

DLF emerged as the top donor among real estate developers with a contribution of Rs 180 crore to the BJP, including donations from subsidiaries such as DLF Commercial Developers Ltd, DLF Luxury Homes Ltd, and DLF Garden City Indore Pvt Ltd between 2019 and 2023.

Prestige Group and its subsidiaries donated more than Rs 45 crore to the BJP, Indian National Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi in October 2019 and April-July 2023 respectively.

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Souptik Datta

Sub Editor|Moneycontrol

Other notable contributors include Mumbai-headquartered K Raheja Corp Private Ltd, which donated Rs 21 crore to BJP, Shiv Sena and Bharat Rashtra Samithi in April 2019 and October 2021.

Anbee Constructions LLP, associated with Mindspace Business Parks Real Estate Investment Trust, contributed more than Rs 10 crore to the All India Congress Committee and Bharat Rashtra Samithi in October 2021 and January 2022.

Commercial real estate developers like Lulu India and Inorbit Malls donated more than Rs 22 crore to political parties like the BJP, Indian National Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi in January-July 2022 and January-November 2023.

The Bharatiya Janata Party was by far the biggest beneficiary of the electoral bonds scheme, receiving Rs 6,061 crore as political donations in the last five years, according to data submitted by the State Bank of India (SBI) to the Election Commission of India of March 14. This amounts to 48 percent of all electoral bonds encashed by political parties since the start of 2019-20 and before it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

In second place is Trinamool Congress, which mopped up Rs 1,610 crore, followed by the Indian National Congress at Rs 1,422 crore.