Days after the apex court struck down the Electoral Bonds Scheme, 2018, and following the SC’s order, the Election Commission of India (ECI) uploaded the data of the electoral bonds given to it by the State Bank of India (SBI).
On the evening of Mar 14, a day before the deadline set by the Supreme Court, the ECI released data pertaining to the purchase of bonds of denominations between ₹1,000 and ₹1 cr dating back to April 2019 until 2024.
Gujarat’s top firms and well-known honchos are also reflected in the list of electoral bond buyers.
Pharma, power, and textile sector groups in Gujarat assembled with the highest spending.
Notable companies, including Intas, Zydus, and Torrent Power, are included in the list of some of the highest spenders on electoral bonds in Gujarat. Vadodara’s Sun Pharma and Alembic Group also came into the spotlight of buyers.
Torrent Group is the highest spender in Gujarat, having bought a total of ₹185 cr worth of electoral bonds.
The second highest spending is labelled to another corporation in Gujarat named Welspun Group with ₹50 cr worth of electoral bonds.
ArcelorMittal’s Lakshmi Mittal is the third highest spender on electoral bonds in Gujarat with ₹35 cr.