Key Points
The recently released list of corporate contributors to political parties under electoral bonds is under examination, although many of these have been frequent donors, paying large sums to political parties through electoral trusts...
Five electoral trusts gave political parties 366 crore in 2022-23, including 259.08 crore going to the ruling BJP...
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, the second-highest electoral bond giver, also donated Rs 87 crore to Prudent, the richest electoral trust that favours the BJP...
Over time, electoral trusts have received donations from Arcelor Mittal, Essel Mining, Vedanta, Airtel Bharti, Torrent, Western UP Power Transmission Co, and real estate giant Navayuga...
The electoral trust mechanism ensures that the name of the corporate donor is revealed through contribution reports submitted to the poll panel and hence the public, unlike the opacity in case of electoral bonds..
