Western UP Power Limited, which is a subsidiary of MEIL, gave Rs 110 million to the Congress, another related company SEPC Power gave Rs 18 million and Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited gave Rs 18 million.
The BJP got Rs 696 crore from the group. However, the bulk came from Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited and smaller amounts from Western UP Power Limited.
Incidentally, MEIL, MKJ Group, Vedanta, Torrent and Future Gaming are among the top donors to the BJP when it comes to electoral bonds.
Some of the other corporations that have donated considerable amounts to Congress are:
Camelia Griha Nirman Pvt Ltd (Rs 55 million), Cygnus Power Infra Services Pvt Ltd (Rs 55 million), Avees Trading Finance Pvt Ltd (Rs 53 million) and Dasami Lab Pvt Ltd (Rs 50 million).
Biocon chairman and founder and prominent businessman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw also donated Rs 1 crore to the Congress, apart from donations to the BJP.
These figures were possible thanks to the alphanumeric numbers that ICE made public on Thursday. Notably, Poonam Agarwal of the fifth had reported in 2018 on the existence of these numbers, despite the government and SBI stating that they were only a "security feature".
There is also a pattern that Congress's fortunes have been more closely tied to elections.
In April 2023Just before the Karnataka elections, the BJP, the ruling party in the state, redeemed Rs 334.2 million and the Congress got Rs 190.6 million.
Meanwhile, Congress had received 622 crore through electoral bonds in 2019almost 85% of which occurred in the months of March and April, when preparations for the Lok Sabha elections were in full swing.
(With inputs from Abhilash Mallick)
