159 individuals purchased Rs 157.76 Cr electoral bonds in 2023, highest till date

Hyderabad: As per the SBI records made public by the Election Commission, an amount of Rs 25 crores was the largest purchase of electoral bonds by a single individual named ‘Laxmidas Vallabhdas Asmita Mercha’ in 2023. The typo in the name of this electoral bond is intriguing.

This is because ‘Laxmidas V Merchant’ is the profile of a group controller at Reliance Industries Limited on LinkedIn.

On November 17, 2023, Laxmidas purchased 25 electoral bonds of Rs one crore each.

Another prominent name from 2023 is of pharma tycoon Kiran Mazumdar Shaw who purchased electoral bonds on April 10 valuing Rs 4 crores and 20 lakhs.

Anita Hemant Shah purchased bonds of Rs 8 crore and 20 lakhs becoming another single biggest woman bond purchaser for the year.

Largest purchase of the year

- The year 2023 has the highest number of individual purchases of electoral bonds numbering to 159 and the total amount is Rs 157 crores, 76 lakhs and 85 thousand (Rs 157,76,85000).

- In 2022, 85 people purchased electoral bonds at a total amount of Rs 55 crores, 52 lakhs and 86,000.

- In 2021, 78 individuals purchased electoral bonds and the total amount is Rs 39 crores, 63 lakhs and 76,000.

- In 2020, nine individuals purchased electoral bonds and the total amount is Rs 11 crores, 24 lakhs and one thousand.

- In 2019, 81 individuals purchased electoral bonds and the total amount is Rs 62.98 crores.

Smallest purchasers

Electoral bonds worth Rs 1,000 each were purchased by Punit Devendrabhai Bhanderi, Aravind S and Sameer Bhatia.

Rs 3,000 worth of electoral bonds was purchased by Giridaran Manivannan.

Repeat purchases in one year

Konark Rajendra Shah purchased electoral bonds four times in 2023 and the total amount is Rs 6 crores and 50 lakhs.

Inder Thakurdas Jaisinghani purchased electoral bonds twice valued at Rs 14 crores.

Vikas Parasrampuria purchased electoral bonds four times, valuing Rs 3 crores.

Chand Saragi purchased bonds twice in a year valuing Rs one crore and 50 lakhs.

Repeating purchases annually

Deepak Khemka, Rishab Khemk and Ishwar Chand Khemk purchased electoral bonds in 2022 of Rs 16 lakhs. In 2023, they purchased bonds of Rs 8 lakhs.

Reena Garg purchased an electoral bond in 2022 of Rs one crore and Rs 75 lakhs in 2023.

Dr Mandeep Sharma purchased electoral bonds every year from 2021 onwards. In 2021, the purchase was Rs 15 lakhs; in 2022 the purchase was Rs 10 lakhs and in 2023 the purchase was Rs 20 lakhs.

Individual odd purchasers

On October 11, 2023, amounts with auspicious numbers drove purchases from these individuals making it an intriguing case.

Bhachiben Khambubhai Manvar purchased Rs one crore, seven lakhs and 68 thousand (Rs 1,07,68,000).

Deval Khamubhai Manvar purchased bonds of Rs one crore, 12 lakhs and 68 thousand (Rs 1,12,68,000)

Harijan Hiribai purchased bonds of Rs one crore and seven lakhs and 68 thousand (Rs 1,07,68,000).

Rathod Lakhiben purchased bonds of Rs one crore and seven lakhs, 68 thousand (Rs 1,07,68,000).

Year 2023

1) Dinesh Kumar Agarwalla: Rs 3 lakhs

2) Deepak Khemka: Rs 4 lakhs

3) Rishab Khemk and Ishwar Chand Khemk: Rs 4 lakhs

4) Anand Agarwal: Rs 25,000

5) Kamal Manohar: Rs 30 lakhs

6) Chand Saraogi: Rs 75 lakhs

7) Damini Nath: Rs 1,000 on January 23, 2023

8) Mahesh Narayan Khade: Rs 50 lakhs

9) Kaukuntla Venugopal: Rs 10 lakhs

10) Rakesh Pravinchandra Shah: Rs 50 lakhs

11) Arunangshu Mukherjee: Rs 50 lakhs

12) Konark Rajendra Shah: Rs 2 crores

13) Konark Rajendra Shah: Rs one crore and 50 lakhs (twice in April 2023)

14) Konark Rajendra Shah: Rs 2 crores. (April, 10, 2023)

15) Sarojit Kumar Dey: Rs 75 lakhs

16) Binod Kumar Maroti: Rs 24 lakhs

17) Rajesh Mannalal Agrawal: Rs 5 crores

18) Smriti Agrawal: Rs 1 crore

19) Tarla Rajendra Shah: Rs 1 crore and 50 lakhs

20) Dipan P Shah: Rs 63 lakhs

21) Jainendra P Shah: Rs 63 lakhs

22) Inder Thakurdas Jaisinghani: Rs 10 crores

23) Mahabir Banka: Rs 50 lakhs

24) Raunak Gupta: Rs 50 lakhs

25) Vikas Parasrampuria: Rs 50 lakhs

26) Anand Sakharam Pimparkar: Rs 10 lakhs

27) Dinesh Kumar Lakhanpal: Rs 5 lakhs

28) Dr Mandeep Sharma: Rs 20 lakhs on April 10, 2023

29) Gupta Varun: Rs 5 lakhs

30) Himadri Khan: Rs 70 lakhs

31) Kiran Mazumdar Shaw: Rs 4 crores and 20 lakhs on April 10, 2023.

32) Purshotam Lal Gupta: Rs 2 crores

33) Rakesh Pravinchandra Shah: Rs 62 lakhs

34) Sanjay Kumar: Rs 20 lakhs

35) Vijay Kumar Goyal: Rs 10 lakhs

36) Vinay Kumar Bhatt: Rs 15 lakhs

37) Brindaban Naskar: Rs 5 lakhs

38) Saurabh Bakliwal: Rs 50 lakhs

39) Vipin Gupta: Rs 50 lakhs

40) Chandan Agarwal: Rs 1,50,000

41) Dilip Ramanlal Thacker: Rs 3 crores

42) Madhumita Sah: Rs 2 lakhs

43) Sachin Bakliwal: Rs 30 lakhs

44) Ruma Ghatak: Rs 1 lakh

45) Sudhakar Kancharla: RS 5 crores

46) Tejas P Shah: Rs 62 lakhs

47) Sarojit Kumar Dey: Rs 75 lakhs

48) Manotosh Das: Rs 1 crore and 20 lakhs

49) Chandaka Sanyasi Rao: Rs 5 lakhs

50) Dipan P Shah: Rs 25 lakhs

51) G Chandrashekar: Rs 5 lakhs

52) Konark Rajendra Shah: Rs one crore

53) Punit Devendrabhai Bhanderi: Rs 1,000

54) Tejas P Shah: Rs 25 lakhs

55) Amar Krishna Sajja: Rs 5 lakhs

56) Aravind S: Rs 1,000

57) Kaustubh Verma: Rs 50 lakhs

58) Muppana Venkata Rao: Rs 45 lakhs

59) Paresh Champaklal Shah: Rs one crore

60) Repally Ashok: Rs 5 lakhs

61) Sagi Venkata Ramakrishna Raju: Rs one crore

62) Vikas Parasrampuria: Rs 50 lakhs

63) Vipul Champaklal Shah: Rs one crore

67) Gurram Mounika: Rs 20 lakhs

68) Gurram Ravi: Rs 20 lakhs

69) Mahabir Banka: Rs 50 lakhs

70) Muppana Venkata Rao: Rs 45 lakhs

71) Raunak Gupta: Rs 50 lakhs

72) Ala Ramanjaneyulu: Rs 5 lakhs

73) Gangadasu Basivi Reddy: Rs 8 lakhs

74) Gowreddy Hariprasad Reddy: Rs 5 lakhs

75) Nirav Maroti: Rs 15 lakhs

76) NV Subba Rao: Rs 1 crore and 50 lakhs

77) Pradeep Aggarwal: Rs one crore

78) Vikas Aggarwal: Rs one crore

79) Vinay Agarwal: Rs 8 lakhs

80) Basant Gajanand Lakotiya: Rs 15 lakhs

81) Dharmendra Vora: Rs 15 lakhs

82) Gourav Rajesh Mundhra: Rs 5 lakhs

83) Hemant Lakhotia: Rs 7 lakhs

84) Hitesh D Shah: Rs 25 lakhs

85) Nikhi Sunil Mundhra: Rs 5 lakhs

86) Rachit Kailash Mundhra: Rs 5 lakhs

87) Rupa H Shah: Rs 15 lakhs

88) Ashish Khandelwal: Rs 6 lakhs

89) Rajesh Mannalal Agrawal: Rs 1 crore

90) Smriti Agrawal: Rs 1 crore

91) Vivek Bansal: Rs 7 lakhs

92) Abhrajit Mitra: Rs 4 crores and 25 lakhs

93) Ajay Saraf: Rs 50 lakhs

94) Sameer Bhatia: Rs 1,000

95) Induru Sudhakara Reddy: Rs 5 crores

96) Ashish Jain: Rs 20 lakhs

97) Deepak Majji Venkata: Rs 20 lakhs

98) Inder Thakurdas Jaisinghani: Rs 4 crores

99) Kaushalender Aggarwal: Rs 15 lakhs

100) Rahul Choudhary: Rs 5 lakhs

101) Basant Gajanand Lakhotiya: Rs 5 lakhs

102) Bhachiben Khambubhai Manvar: Rs 1 crore and 7 lakhs and 68 thousand on October 11, 2023 (Rs 1,07,68,000)

103) Deval Khamubhai Manvar: Rs 1,12,68,000 (Rs one crore twelve lakhs and 68 thousand) on October 11

104) HS Aravinda: Rs 25 lakhs and 1,000

105) Harijan Hiribai: Rs one crore and seven lakhs and 68 thousand (Rs 1,07,68,000).

106) Mahabir Banka: Rs one crore

107) Manavar Devabhai: Rs six crores, 63 lakhs and 42 thousand (6,63,42,000)

108) Ishant Gupta: Rs 5 lakhs

109) Nishant K Yadav: Rs 10 lakhs

110) Prashant Kumar Jaiswal: Rs 15 lakhs

111) Rathod Lakhiben: Rs one crore and seven lakhs, 68 thousand (Rs 1,07,68,000)

112) Raunak Gupta: Rs one crore

113) Chand Saragi: Rs 75 lakhs

114) Vikas Parasrampuria: Rs one crore

115) Yogesh Manipuria: Rs 10 lakhs

116) Aditya Kumar Garg: Rs 75 lakhs

117) Anita Hemant Shah: Rs 8 crores and 20 lakhs

118) Naresh Hiralal Bhansali: Rs 30 lakhs

119) Neeraj Gandhi: Rs 2 lakh and 50 thousand

120) Nishant Saraf: Rs 2 lakh and 50 thousand

121) Rajesh Kumar Agarwal: Rs 20 lakhs

122) Reena Garg: Rs 75 lakhs

123) Sagun Tulsyan: Rs 20 lakhs

124) Sandeep Kumar Sultania: Rs 10 lakhs

125) Sourab Kumar Roy: Rs 26 lakhs and 88 thousand

126) Utkarsh Jain: Rs 5 lakhs

127) Vishal Kothari: Rs 1 lakh

128) Yogesh Mannalal Agrawal: Rs 50 lakhs

129) Ajit Kumar Jain: Rs 2 lakhs

130) Amrita Agarwal: Rs 3 lakhs

131) Anil Kumar Malawat: Rs 8 lakhs

132) Arun Kumar Joshi: Rs 4 lakhs

133) Ayush Jain: Rs 3 lakhs

134) Basudev Agarwal: Rs 1 lakh and 50,000

135) Harshit Kothari: Rs 1 lakh

136) Himadru Khan: Rs 60 lakhs

137) Manoj Kumar Agarwal: Rs 2 lakh and 50 thousand

138) Giridaran Manivannan: Rs 3,000

139) Lila Devi Sultania: Rs 5 lakhs

140) Pramod Bajoria: Rs 10 lakhs

141) Rakesh Pravin Chandra Shah: Rs 75 lakhs

142) Sanjay Agarwal: Rs 10 lakhs

143) Sanjay Kumar Sinha: Rs 3 lakhs

144) Sushil Kumar Kothari: Rs 4 lakhs

145) Vikash Gupta: Rs 6 lakhs

146) Vinay Agarwal: Rs 3 lakhs

147) Vinit Gupta: Rs 6 lakhs

148) Vivek Agarwal: Rs 7 lakhs

149) Ashok Kumar Modi: Rs 3 crores

150) Avinash Modi: Rs 3 crores

151) Mayank Singhal: Rs 65 lakhs

152) Prakash Balwant Mengane: Rs 3 crores

153) Laxmidas Vallabhdas Asmita Mercha: Rs 25 crores

154) Mahabir Banka: Rs 1 crore

155) Raunak Gupta: Rs 1 crore

156) Vikas Parasrampuria: Rs 1 crore

157) Ajay Gupta: Rs 2 crores

158) Harmesh Rahul Joshi: Rs 5 crores

159) Rahul Jagannath Joshi: Rs 5 crores

Total amount is: Rs 157,76,85,000

What is an electoral bond?

The scheme, introduced by the Central government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding.

According to the Electoral Bond Scheme, an electoral bond is issued as a promissory note, which is bearer in character i.e. it does not carry the name of the buyer or payee, no ownership information is recorded and the political party is presumed to be its owner, as explained by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), one of the organisations which filed a petition against the scheme.

The scheme allows Indian citizens and domestic companies to donate these bonds — issued in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 1 crore — to political parties of their choice. These bonds have to be redeemed by the political parties.