News Analysis India

Tag: Electoral Bonds

  • Reliance-linked Qwik Supply gave Rs 385 cr to BJP, Rs 25 cr to Shiv Sena

    New Delhi: Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd, a little-known company with a registered address at Navi Mumbai’s Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and having links to Reliance Industries, gave Rs 395 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena, data uploaded by the Election Commission showed Thursday.

    Qwik Supply, the third largest donor to political parities using electoral bonds, bought Rs 410 crore bonds between 2021-22 and 2023-24, and gave all but Rs 25 crore to the BJP. The amount of Rs 25 crore was given to the Shiv Sena in 2022.

    The company, which is described as a manufacturer of warehouses and storage units, gave no money to any other political party, the data uploaded by the Election Commission showed. Electoral bond purchases and donated by Qwik Supply were behind Rs 1,368 crore of Future Gaming and Hotel Services — another little-known lottery company — and Rs 966 crore of Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infra.

    Honeywell Properties Private Ltd, another firm with a Reliance link, purchased bonds worth Rs 30 crore on April 8, 2021 and gave all of them to the BJP.

    When the Reliance connection first came to light last week, a Reliance Industries spokesperson had in response to a detailed questionnaire, said, “Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity.” It, however, had not commented on its association with the firm. Qwik Supply, an unlisted private company, was incorporated on November 9, 2000, with an authorised share capital of Rs 130.99 crore. Its paid-up capital is Rs 129.99 crore.

    The firm had a revenue of over Rs 500 crore in 2022-23 (April 2022 to March 2023) but profit numbers were not known.

    It bought electoral bonds worth Rs 360 crore in 2021-22 to give away to political parties. In the same year, its net profit was only Rs 21.72 crore. It bought another Rs 50 crore worth of bonds in 2023-24.

    The company has three directors, and one reported key management personnel.

    The longest-serving director currently on board is Tapas Mitra — who incidentally also sits on the board of 25 other companies — was appointed on November 17, 2014.

    Mitra is a director of partnership firms such as Reliance Eros Productions LLP and companies such as Jamnagar Kandla Pipeline Company Pvt Ltd.

    Jamnagar Kandla Pipeline is registered in Ahmedabad at an address shared by some other Reliance companies, such as Reliance Paging Pvt Ltd, Jamnagar Ratlam Pipeline Pvt Ltd, Reliance Tankages Pvt Ltd and Reliance Oil and Petroleum Pvt Ltd.

    Vipul Pranlal Mehta has been a director on the board of Qwik since December 10, 2019. He is also a director of eight other companies, including one called Rel Icons and Traders Pvt Ltd.

    Sridhar Titti is the most recently appointed director, joining the board on November 27, 2023.

    One of two directors of Honewell Properties, Satyanarayanamurthy Veera Venkata Korlep, has been on the board of several Reliance group firms since 2005. The company also shares its registered address with several group firms.

    Filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) showed Reliance Group Support, Reliance Fire Brigade and Reliance Hospital Management together owning 50.04 per cent of Qwik, which provides logistics and supply chain support to Reliance’s retail unit.

    Nexg Devices Pvt Ltd, a firm linked to Surender Lunia, purchased Rs 35 crore worth of electoral bonds in May 2019 and November 2022. Another firm linked to him, Infotel Business Solutions bought electoral bonds worth Rs 15 crore in May 2019.

    He was the one who sold a 29.18 per cent stake in NDTV held by Reliance-linked firms to the Adani Group.

  • Mystery donations: TMC and JD(U) claim electoral bonds left anonymously at their offices

    The Trinamool Congress and JD(U) provided bizarre explanations in their electoral bond disclosures for 2018-19. They claimed that unidentified individuals had delivered sealed envelopes to their respective offices in Kolkata and Patna, leaving them unaware of the donors’ identities. The Election Commission on Sunday made fresh electoral bonds data public for the period prior to 2019.

    While JD(U) revealed the identities of donors contributing Rs 3 crore out of the total Rs 13 crore received in April 2019, the TMC did not disclose the identities of donors who collectively contributed nearly Rs 75 crore through electoral bonds between July 16, 2018, and May 22, 2019.

    The TMC stated in its submission to the Election Commission on May 27, 2019, that most of these bonds were sent to their office anonymously, either dropped in a drop box or delivered by messengers, making it impossible for them to ascertain the names and details of the buyers. Similarly, JD(U) stated in its submission on May 30, 2019, that someone had delivered a sealed envelope containing 10 electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore each to their office in Patna on April 3, 2019.JD(U) reiterated that they had no knowledge of the donors’ details, emphasizing that they were unaware due to the absence of the Supreme Court order at the time of bond receipt, with only the government’s gazette notification being in effect.

    TMC suggested that identities could be established using the unique numbers assigned to electoral bonds issued by the State Bank of India. They indicated that SBI, as the sole issuer of these bonds, possessed all necessary details of the bondholders, including their KYC documents, PAN card, identity proof, address proof, and other supporting documents as per the bank’s requirements.

    EC makes fresh electoral bonds data publicThe Election Commission (EC) on Sunday information on electoral bonds on Sunday, which was previously submitted in sealed envelopes to the Supreme Court and later mandated to be made public. These details cover the period preceding April 12, 2019. In accordance with the Supreme Court’s interim order from April 12, 2019, political parties had submitted data on Electoral Bonds in sealed envelopes, as stated by the poll panel in a statement.Initially, the State Bank of India (SBI) had provided data spanning from April 12, 2019, until the cancellation of the bonds by the apex court last month. However, the recent disclosure is based on declarations made by various political parties in November last year regarding the bonds they redeemed since the scheme’s launch in early 2018, excluding the final few tranches.According to the latest data shared by the EC, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received the highest funds through these bonds, totaling Rs 6,986.5 crore since their launch in 2018, followed by West Bengal’s ruling party Trinamool Congress (Rs 1,397 crore), Congress (Rs 1,334 crore), and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (Rs 1,322 crore).

    Odisha’s ruling party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ranked fifth, receiving Rs 944.5 crore, followed by the DMK at Rs 656.5 crore and Andhra Pradesh’s ruling party YSR Congress at nearly Rs 442.8 crore.

    The latest data release reveals that the Janata Dal (Secular) obtained bonds worth Rs 89.75 crore, including Rs 50 crore from Megha Engineering, the second-largest buyer of electoral bonds. Future Gaming emerged as the largest purchaser of electoral bonds, acquiring Rs 1,368 crore worth, with almost 37 percent directed to the DMK. (With TOI inputs)

  • Electoral bonds scheme was world’s biggest extortion racket, used to split parties: Rahul Gandhi – The Economic Times Video

    Launching a scathing attack on BJP, Congress Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi accused the party of capturing institutional framework of the country. Speaking at a rally in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra on March 15, Gandhi labeled this alleged act as biggest anti-national activity currently underway in India. He highlighted the purported misuse of institutions such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), and Income Tax departments for political gains.