Electoral Bonds: IT majors such as Infosys, Cyient and Zensar on list of donors

Electoral Bonds: Information technology (IT) and engineering services companies, including Infosys, Cyient, and Zensar Technologies, have been identified as donors to political parties through the electoral bonds scheme (EBS), as per data released on March 17 by the Election Commission of India.

The EC has publically posted EBS data submitted by the State Bank of India (SBI) on its website, adhering to the Supreme Court's order on the matter.

Contributions Revealed

— As per the latest disclosed data, IT major Infosys in March 2018 made a contribution of ₹1 crore to Janata Dal (Secular) during the Karnataka assembly elections that month, Moneycontrol reported.

— In May 2019, Zensar Technologies contributed ₹3 crore to unspecified parties through electoral bonds.

— Cyient has emerged as the largest donor among the three companies, donating ₹10 crore in two tranches of ₹5 crore each on November 7 and November 14, 2023. However, the recipients of these contributions are yet to be identified.

Cyient, Infosys and Zensar did not respond to queries, the report added.

Electoral Bonds Scheme: Fresh Data Made Public

The Election Commission of India on March 17 made public fresh data on electoral bonds. This data was submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court. It was later asked to be put up in the public domain by the top court.

“Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers," said ECI as it uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website.

While some national and state-level political parties have begun sharing information on the amounts received, only a handful have disclosed the identities of the contributing companies.

Party-wise list of funding through EBS made public on March 17

— The Bharatiya Janata Party encashed electoral bonds totalling ₹6,986.5 crore; of which ₹2,555 crore were received in 2019-20.

— Trinamool Congress (TMC) received ₹1,397 crore through electoral bonds, the second largest recipient after BJP.

— Congress redeemed a total of ₹1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.

— Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) fourth largest recipient through electoral bonds, encashed bonds worth ₹1,322 crore.

— Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) received ₹656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including ₹509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming.

— Samajwadi Party (SP) got ₹14.05 crore via electoral bonds, Akali Dal ₹7.26 crore, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) ₹6.05 crore, National Conference ₹50 lakh

— Biju Janata Dal (BJD) encashed electoral bonds worth ₹944.5 crore, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSR Congress) ₹442.8 crore, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ₹181.35 crore.

— Filings by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)), and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) showed nil receipts via electoral bonds.