Election Bonds: Future Gaming Group Gives DMK Over Rs 500 Crore; CSK Is AIADMK’s Largest Contributor With Rs 5 Crore

Parties from all political stripes were reluctant to reveal the identities of electoral bond contributors, but a few—two significant Tamil Nadu parties among them—have become more transparent.

The election board has made the donor data public after receiving it from the state’s governing Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

As of 2019, the AIADMK received Rs 6.05 crore, while the DMK received Rs 656.5 crore. Not to be overlooked is the fact that, while DMK has received money via these bonds all along, the AIADMK gift ceased in 2019.

According to ECI data analyzed by News18, the Future Gaming organization has consistently donated to DMK since 2021. The group gained notoriety last week with the release of the electoral bond information.

Up to November of this year, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt. Ltd. has given DMK donations of Rs 509 crore between 2020–21 and 2022–23. The company has given political parties a total of Rs 1,368 crore, making it the highest single contributor under electoral bonds. When the figures are compared to DMK’s list, the party received more than 35% of the entire gift made by the company.

Additionally, the DMK’s 77% electoral bond financing might be attributed to the firm’s recent gift to the party.

Year-over-year, the Future group gave out Rs 249 crore in 2021-2022 and then another Rs 160 crore in 2022-2023. It is important to note that the state had assembly elections in April 2021. May 2021 saw the announcement of the results and the ascent to power of the DMK, led by M.K. Stalin as chief minister.

The company gave the party its first gift of Rs 60 crore using electoral bonds in 2020–21. Additionally, according to DMK data, the party received Rs 40 crore from the company between April 1, 2023, and November 20, 2023.

Since 2019, Mega Infrastructure has given the DMK contributions totaling Rs 105 crore. The company provided DMK Rs 20 crore in each of the years 2019–20 and 2020–21. Donations peaked at Rs 40 crore in 2021–2022 and then dropped to Rs 25 crore in 2022–2023.

The only businesses to give to the DMK via electoral bonds in 2020–21 and 2022–23 were Future Group and Mega Infrastructure, which accounted for approximately 95% of the party’s bond financing.

India Cements, a former direct owner of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) of the Indian Premier League, was one of the other major donors to DMK. The company gave the DMK donations of Rs 10 crore in 2019–20 and Rs 4 crore in 2021–2022. During 2021–2022, Sun TV Network Ltd. gave out Rs. 10 crore.

The largest donor to the AIADMK was Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd.
The AIADMK received electoral bond money for a relatively short time, just before the 2019 Lok Sabha session began.

The party received Rs 6.05 crore via electoral bonds during the course of three days, from April 2 to April 4, 2019. On April 3, 2019, the CSK alone contributed Rs 5 crore of this.

On April 2, 2019, Lakshmi Machine Works Limited, a Coimbatore-based company, made the party’s first donation of Rs 1 crore. On April 4, 2019, a Chennai resident named Gopal Srinivasan gave the party a donation of Rs 5 lakh using electoral bonds.

In February, the Supreme Court outlawed electoral bonds, citing a violation of people’ right to know by the anonymous arrangement.