DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA Fresh data out: Payments before 2019 polls; DMK, ADMK, JD(S), NCP among 10 parties who reveal donors AAP names its donors till May 2019, Bajaj Group top of list MALLICA JOSHI NEW DELHI, MARCH 17 BETWEEN APRIL 2018 and May 2019, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got Rs 5.75 crore through electoralbonds—fromfivecompanies and two individuals. Of this, the Bajaj Group accounted for Rs 3 crore, credited on April 10, 2019, becoming the party's biggest poll bond donor ahead of Lok Sabha polls that year. The AAP was among the parties which disclosed the names of donors in the latest data released by the Election Commission (EC) on Sunday. According to the data, the AAP got Rs 69.06 crore through bonds between April 2018 and July 2023. The party disclosed thedonorsonlyfortheperiodtill May 2019. In this period, the second highest electoral bond donor was Gujarat-based Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited and Pune-based BG Shirke Constr-uction Technology Pvt Ltd,both of whichdonatedRs1croreeach through single bonds. Their donations to AAP were credited to the party’s accounts in May 2019. Bengaluru-based KMZ Investments donated Rs 50 lakh to AAP in five poll bonds of Rs 10 lakheach.Itisinvolvedinhuman health activities. It has an authorised share capital of Rs 1 lakh and a paid up capital of Rs 1,000. AAPreceivedRs20lakhfrom NJK enterprises in April 2019. CONTINUEDONPAGE2 INC `1,950.90 cr `8,451.41 cr Trinamool Congress Bharat Rashtra Samithi `1,707.81cr 529 All figures in ` cr `1,407.30cr A vandalised room at a Gujarat University hostel in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Nirmal Harindran Biju Janata Dal `14,512.81cr Total Amount YSRCP `1,010.50 cr 165.8 BRS BJD 192.6 235 Data compiled by: Shijith P Kunhitty, Harikishan Sharma, Lalmani Verma & Shyamlal Yadav BJP’S POLL BOND REDEMPTIONS Mar ’18 Jul ’18 Oct Nov ’18 ’18 769.48 173 1,572.93 Allfiguresin`crore 68.05 THAT the BJP is the No. 1 recipient of poll bonds is a trend that was established since the inception of the scheme. Indeed, the ruling BJP redeemed over Rs 3941.57 crore between March 2018 to May 22, 2019, according to a fresh set of data released by the Election Commission today. And 77.4% of this (Rs 3050.11 crore) flowed into the party’s coffers in the March, April and May 2019, the three months in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls. The Lok Sabha polls 2019 were announced on March 10 that year and counting of votes was done on May 23. In all, the BJP has redeemed at least Rs 8451.41 crore since launch of the scheme. Along with Lok Sabha polls, there were Assembly polls for 94.15 NEW DELHI, MARCH 17 113.20 SHYAMLAL YADAV Apr May Jan Mar ’18 ’18 ’19 ’19 Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha as well. The geography of the branches from where these bonds were issued, shows that BJP got money from across the country with major contributions from Mumbai (Rs 1493.21 crore),Kolkata(Rs1068.91crore) and New Delhi (666.08 crore). In November-December 2018, there were Assembly polls in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, 707.70 3 months before 2019 polls, BJP got over `3K cr, 77% of its year’s count Apr May ’19 ’19 Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana,Mizoram.BJPhadlost MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and returned to the government in Bhopal after a defection in Congress. Bonds redeemed during months of October and November2018showedthatBJP received Rs 330.41 crore in total. The next tranche was opened in January 2019 and the party CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 LOTTERY COMPANY GAVE 40% OF ITS TOTAL BONDS TO DMK Future Gaming, Bond Buyer No. 1, was DMK’s biggest donor at `509 crore ARUN JANARDHANAN & DEEPTIMAN TIWARY DMK’S DONOR LIST THE BIGGEST purchaser of electoral bonds, lottery company Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd, which bought bonds worth over Rs 1,300 crore between 2019 and 2024, donatedalmost40%of itstotalpurchases to the DMK. The DMK, currently the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, was amongthepartieswhichnamed its poll bond donors, according to the latest data put out by the EC on Sunday. According to the data, the party received a total of Rs 656.5 crore via poll bonds Future Gaming and Hotel Services CHENNAI, NEW DELHI, MAR 17 Donor Mega Infrastructure India Cements Sun TV Network Ltd Triveni (IN ` CRORE) Amount 509 105 14 10 8 fromApril192019tillNovember 14, 2023. This included Rs 509 crore from Future Gaming, run by Santiago Martin, between April 2019 and April 2023. The DMK received its first trancheofelectoralbonds(worth Donor Amount 5 IRB Infrastructure 2 Ramco Cements Developers Lakshmi Machine Works Birla 1.5 1 1 Apollo Compiled by: Shijith P Kunhitty Rs60crore)fromFutureGaming in 2020-21. In 2021-22, the amountincreasedtoRs249crore. The Tamil Nadu Assembly electionswereheldinApril2021, when the DMK ousted the then AIADMK government. Over half of JD(S) electoral bond donations came from Megha Engg AKRAM M & DEEPTIMAN TIWARY BENGALURU, NEW DELHI, MARCH 17 JANATA DAL (Secular), which was among the parties to have disclosed the identity of their electoral bond donors, received more than half of its total Rs 89.75-crore donations from Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL). According to the details submitted to the Election Commission of India by H D Deve Gowda, national president of the JD(S), electoral bond donations from MEIL amounted to ISRAEL TO CONTINUE ASSAULT, TRUCE TALKS TO RESUME UKRAINIAN DRONES STRIKE RUSSIA ON LAST POLL DAY P 12 INC 2,390.91 Bharatiya Janata Party BY UNNY Gujarat govt taking strict action: MEA FUNDINGBEFORE APRIL12,2019 BJP 217.21 total purchases—exceeding Rs 1,300 crore—from 2019 to 2024 totheDMK,thereigningpartyin Tamil Nadu. Similarly, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL), the second-largest purchaser of bonds of almost Rs 1,000 crore, gave away Rs 50 crore to the JD(S) in Karnataka. Narayana Murthy-led Infosys donated Rs 1 crore to JD(S) two months before the 2018 Karnataka elections. JKNC received Rs 50 lakh from Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel in 2019. The Bajaj Group donated Rs 3 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party, becoming its biggest donor via electoral bonds, days before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Bharti Airtel Ltd and Serum Institute's Cyrus Poonawala donated to NCP during 2018-19. Meanwhile, some of the largest political parties, such as the BJP, Congress, and TMC, among others, have refrained from disclosing any information about their donors. Notably, the BJP, in its submission to the ECI on November 15, 2023, stated that it is not Mob targets foreign students in Gujarat Univ hostel during namaz, 5 injured BUSINESS AS USUAL THE WORLD CUMULATIVEFUNDING,UPTOFEBRUARY15,2024 13.50 IT MAY not be clear how the regional parties know the IDs of their donors but the fact that 10 of them have voluntarily revealed their names strengthens the case for SBI to disclose the bond numbers so that the donor can be matched with the party. TWO ASSAILANTS ARRESTED WHAT THE PARTIES RECEIVED (TOP 5) 210 ADAYbeforetheSupremeCourt hearstheStateBankof India'sresponse regarding its failure to disclose the unique alphanumeric code for each electoral bond purchased and redeemed, theElectionCommissionof India (ECI) released a fresh set of data on Sunday that further bolsters the demand for matching electoral bond donors to political parties, with as many as 10 regional parties voluntarily disclosing the names of their contributors. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK); All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(AIADMK);JanataDal (Secular); Nationalist Congress Party (NCP); Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC); Janata Dal United (JDU); Aam Aadmi Party (AAP); Samajwadi Party; Sikkim Democratic Front; and a Goa party, the Maharashtra Gomantak Party, have revealed names of donors who contributed via electoral bonds between March 2018 and April 2019. Although this isn't unprecedented — Jharkhand Mukti Morcha had voluntarily disclosed Rs 1 crore donation from Hindalco Industries Limited through an electoral bond in 2019-20 — the second instalment of information pertaining to electoral bonds revealed by ECI is crucial as it is the biggest disclosure of details (although partial) to date on which donor exactly donated to which party. For example, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd ,run by Santiago Martin, the largest contributor through electoral bonds,allocatednearly40%of its E EXPLAINED NEW DELHI, MARCH 17 Caseto reveal gets ● stronger `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 SC HEARS SBI RESPONSE TODAY ON REVEALING UNIQUE BOND NUMBERS RITU SARIN & RITIKA CHOPRA POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2024, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BJP tells EC not bound by law to keep donor records so doesn’t have details; Cong says has told SBI to share with EC ● JD(S) DONOR LIST Donor Megha Engineering & Constructions Embassy Group JSW Steel Shankaranarayana Constructions BICON Ltd (IN ` CRORE) Amount 50 22 5 5 Donor Amount 2 Shahi Exports 1.5 Infosys Technologies 1 Aditya Birla Group 0.5 Health Care Global 0.25 Amar Raj Groups Enterprises 2.5 Rs 50 crore – nearly 56 per cent of total received by the party. Run by Krishna Reddy, MEIL is involved in marquee projects of the Telangana government such as the Kaleswaram Dam project. In total, the company Compiled by: Shijith P Kunhitty and its subsidiaries have spent more than Rs 1,200 crore on electoral bonds between April 2019andNovember2023,asper data released by the Election Commission. This makes it the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In 2022-23, the DMK received another Rs 160 crore via poll bonds from Future Gaming. The remaining amount was donated on April 1, 2023. Accordingtotheoverallyearwisedata,theDMKreceivedcontributionstotallingRs45.50crore in 2019-2020, coinciding with the May 2019 general elections. ThemajordonorsincludedIndia Cements at Rs 10 crore, Lakshmi MachineWorks(LMW)atRs1.50 crore, RAMCO Cements at Rs 5 crore, Mega Infrastructure at Rs 20 crore, Apollo at Rs 1 crore, Triveni at Rs 5 crore, Birla at Rs 1 crore, and IRB at Rs 2 crore. In 2020-2021, the DMK saw contributionstotalingRs80crore. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD, MARCH 17 FIVE FOREIGN students of Gujarat University were injured, including two who had to be hospitalised, when a group of 20-25 people barged into their hostelandassaultedthemforoffering namaz during Ramzan in the hostel building Saturday night.Twoof theassailantswere arrested Sunday, police said, adding that an FIR has been lodged and investigations were on to identify the rest. According to the police, the twoforeign studentswhohadto be hospitalised are from Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan. While one of them is still in hospital, the other has been discharged, they said. Of the other students who sustained injuries, two are from African nations and one from Afghanistan. The police have registered a case under IPC provisions relating to unlawful assembly, rioting, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal trespass. The two arrested persons have been identified as Hitesh Mevada and Bharat Patel, both residents of Ahmedabad. As videos of the incident started circulating on social media, showing some people vandalising the hostel rooms and damaging vehicles, Ahmedabad CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘I started weeping, locked myself in my room, wanted to quit cricket… Then I sought external help’ R ASHWIN INDIAN CRICKETER PAGE 14 PM, Naidu show of strength in Andhra: ‘NDA will cross 400’ SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, MARCH 17 NEARLY A decade after they first shared the stage on April 30, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu and JanaSena Party (JSP) chief K Pawan Kalyan came together for a public meeting at Chilakaluripeta, in Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh, on Sunday. The NDA rally, “Prajagalam”, turned into a massive show of strength by the three parties, which joined forces earlier this month for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh. Addressing the crowd in Hindi, with Andhra BJP chief DaggubatiPurandeshwaritranslating his speech into Telugu, Modi said: “The NDA keeps regional aspirations as well as national progress in mind. Naidu and Pawan Kalyan are working Prime Minister Narendra Modi with TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and JanaSena chief Pawan Kalyan in Andhra’s Palnadu district on Sunday. PTI hardheretobringinadouble-engine growth government which will hasten development in the state. With TDP joining the NDA, wehavebecomemorestronger.’’ “We are going into this electionwithtwoobjectives–tobring the NDA back in power in New Delhi,andtobringdownthestate government here. YSRCP leaders arecompetingwitheachotherin corruption.Therehasbeennodevelopmentinthisstateinthelast five years,’’ he said. The YSRCP and Congress are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Opp raises poll bonds, EVMs to target PM as Rahul yatra ends CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE 10 REGIONAL PARTIES ENCASHED EBS WORTH `900 CR TILL APRIL 12, 2019 AROUND 2019 ELECTIONS, CHENNAI SUPER KINGS WAS AIDMK DONOR NO.1 CONGRESS SAW SHARP SURGE IN DONATIONS AHEAD OF 2019 LS POLLS NAMED ACCUSED IN MAHADEV APP CASE, BAGHEL SAYS IT’S POLITICAL RETRIBUTION PAGES 3, 4 The INDIA rally in Mumbai on Sunday. Amit Chakravarty ALOK DESHPANDE MUMBAI, MARCH 17 FROMUPLIFTofbackwardclasses to increased vigilance in the use ofEVMs,leadersoftheopposition INDIAblocsettheagendaasthey sounded the bugle for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections at Mumbai's Shivaji Park ground Sunday. The show of strength, during which the opposition Jaipur leaders targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, also marked the culmination of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Addressing the mega rally, Gandhi termed the electoral bond scheme as the national version of road side “Hafta Vasooli” or extortion. “Today Narendra Modi has the monopoly over corruption. Electoralbondisnothingbutna- tional Hafta Vasooli. They give contract and take percentage. Second, they threaten. Third, they use shell companies and, fourth, contract in terms of money.Mumbaiairportisanexample of it. The CBI probe was initiated and then Adani was given the airport,” the Congress MP said. “Everybody thinks that we are fighting against a political CONTINUED ON PAGE 2