Electoral Bond data: Five key takeaways on corporate funding of political parties
electoral bond data offers several insights, but there are at least five key takeaways on the current state of corporate funding of political parties.
First, the electoral bond scheme has brought in new entrants into the corporate funding space with the emergence of Future Gaming, Megha Engineering, and Quik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd as top donors to major national and regional political parties.
The corporate funding field — as seen largely from reports of electoral trusts submitted to the Election Commission — has so far been dominated by the likes of Bharti Airtel, DLF, Vedanta, ArcelorMittal, Torrent and real estate groups like Navayuga Constructions, besides occasionally the Tata group.
Second, electoral bonds have played a determinant role to many a party coffers. Case in point, three of the top five electoral bond donors have contributed 89.4% to 100% of their total electoral bond purchase to the ruling BJP, elevating the party to another financial orbit. Two of the top five corporate donors have also sent electoral bonds to the chief opposition party, Indian National Congress, but at a far lower scale. The grand old party's biggest electoral bond donor is the Vedanta group, which sent Rs 125 crore — in comparison to more than Rs 230 crore sent to BJP.
Third, the electoral bond funding dynamics have helped push up regional parties like Trinamool Congress to the big league. The Mamata Banerjee-led party raised more money than INC in electoral bonds and comes next only to BJP. Bharat Rashtra Samiti and DMK have
