Many companies that faced regulatory action in the past five years have all donated electoral bonds to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in some measure, data released by the Election Commission (EC) to comply with the orders of the Supreme Court show.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Hindu previously reported that Divi’s Labs, Micro Labs, Kalpataru Projects International, and other companies purchased bonds worth considerable sums of money between 2019 and 2023. These companies were also under the scanner of the Income Tax Department, the Enforcement Directorate or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over alleged bad business practices or quality control, as the case may be.
On March 21, the commission shared the bond numbers associated with each purchase, thus allowing the lists of donors and the parties they were donating to to be matched.
ADVERTISEMENT
Micro Labs purchased electoral bonds worth ₹16 crore in all, of which ₹7 crore went to the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, ₹6 crore to the BJP, and ₹3 crore to the Congress.
Hetero Drugs Ltd., Hetero Labs Ltd., and Hetero Biopharma Ltd. donated ₹50 crore to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), followed by ₹10 crore to the BJP.
Also read | Vedanta is biggest donor for Congress, Essel Mining for BJD
Similarly, MSN Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd. and MSN Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. donated ₹20 crore to the BRS and ₹16 crore to the BJP. Divi’s Laboratories Ltd. gave ₹30 crore to the BJP, ₹20 crore to the BRS, and ₹5 crore to the Congress.
Mankind Pharma Ltd. gave all the bonds it purchased for ₹24 crore, to the BJP. Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. gave bonds worth ₹34.5 crore to the BJP, ₹15 crore to the BRS, and ₹2.5 crore to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Besides pharmaceutical firms, Shirdi Sai Electricals Ltd. gave ₹40 crore to the TDP as well. Kalpataru Projects International Ltd. donated all the ₹25.5 crore worth of poll bonds it bought to the BJP. My Home Infrastructures gave bonds worth ₹15 crore to the BRS, ₹5 crore to the BJP, and ₹4.5 crore to the Congress.
(With inputs from Vasudevan Mukunth)