Information Technology (IT) and engineering services companies including Infosys, Cyient and Zensar Technologies were named among the firms to have donated to political parties through electoral bonds, according to data submitted by the State Bank of India (SBI) to the Election Commission of India.
According to the latest disclosed data on March 17, in March 2018, Infosys contributed Rs 1 crore to Janata Dal (Secular) through an electoral bond. This occurred around the time of Karnataka elections in 2018.
The largest donation among the three companies was given by Cyient, which donated Rs 10 crore in two tranches in November 2023. However, the names of the political parties that benefited from this contribution have not yet been found.
While both national and state-level political parties have started sharing data on the amounts received, only a few have revealed the name of the companies who donated.
In May 2019, Zensar Technologies contributed Rs 3 crore to unidentified parties through electoral bonds.
Queries sent to Infosys, Cyient and Zensar Technologies didn’t elicit any response at the time of publishing. Any comments from these companies will be updated later to reflect in the article.
The electoral bonds
The first set of documents detailing the companies which have contributed and the political parties which have benefited from the purchase of electoral bonds over the last five years was made public on March 14, after SBI was ordered to share the data with the ECI by the Supreme Court.
In total, 24 political parties received donations through electoral bonds over the last five years amounting to Rs 12,769 crore.
As per the latest data from March 17, among major national parties, BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.5 crore; a maximum of Rs 2,555 crore was received in 2019-20; and Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.
Trinamool Congress received Rs 1,397 crore through electoral bonds, making it the second largest recipient after BJP. BRS was the fourth largest recipient through electoral bonds, encashed bonds worth Rs 1,322 crore.
Among companies topping the list of donations is lottery firm Future Gaming and Hotel Services, which donated Rs 1,368 crore – a stunning 11 percent of all electoral bonds that were bought in the country. In second spot is Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd with Rs 966 crore.
This was followed by warehouse and storage company Qwik Supply Chain which donated a total of Rs 410 crore.
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