Conflict of interest is built into the idea of electoral bonds

Most Indians probably spent the last few hours furiously Googling Santiago Martin.

“Martin, who” did you say?

The lottery king of India is also the unexpected chartbuster raja of the Electoral Bonds power list. His company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited, has purchased ₹1,386 crore worth of bonds. Martin, whose website says his success is that of a man who “…built nothing into an empire” has had multiple run-ins with investigative agencies. In 2019, he was raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on allegations of retaining unsold tickets and claiming crores in prizes. In 2022, the ED booked his company in a money laundering case and froze more than ₹400 crore in assets. And as recently as the beginning of March this year, his son-in-law was raided in connection with an illegal sand mining probe.
Pause to consider that this gentleman is the biggest underwriter of our elections.
He is not alone.
I counted six companies in the top 15 – Future Gaming, Megha Engineering, Vedanta Limited, Haldia Energy Ltd, Keventers, Yashoda Hospital — who have been either directly or through parent/affiliated companies, probed, raided, or booked in the last five years by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Income Tax or ED.
So, we can say that such investigations are now so routine and commonplace that they barely signify anything. But, if we are to take all the multiple allegations at face value and thus seriously, the real question to ask is: Why is dodgy money being allowed to fund India’s democracy?
Of course, the ED, CBI and IT would argue that the fact that some of these cases are still actively open is proof that bonds or no bonds, the agencies carry on.
Electoral bonds were meant to mark the end of the suitcase-era of political funding — days when cash was stuffed into attache cases and handed over and under tables. But, if so many of the key purchasers of these bonds stand accused of one or the other kind of financial malfeasance, why is it kosher for our politics to be bankrolled by them?
Of course, the question is age-old. Which is the cleanest, fairest way to fund elections? And because no one really wants to have this unsexy conversation, it’s much easier to indulge in competitive political outrage over electoral bonds and watch the headlines fade.
And they will fade. Because, on the principle of it, all parties (minus the CPM) have received funds from bonds. Yes, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) encashed more than ₹6,000 crore, giving it a sizeable resource advantage in the elections. But it’s quite evident that big business in India simply backs the winning horse, irrespective of who it is, whether in the states or at the Centre. Political funding is ideology-agnostic and simply gravitates to power. The story of Mamata Banerjee and electoral bonds proves that. Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has left the Indian National Congress behind to take the number two spot with ₹1,609 crore of bonds redeemed.
Of course, this throws up the familiar chicken and egg argument: Do some parties do better electorally because they have more money or do winning candidates attract money irrespective?
We will never find any meaningful answer to that question because of the complex web of corporate-political relationships that often play out in contradictory ways. For instance, the number two buyer of bonds, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd, built the Kaleshwaram Dam in Telangana. During the Telangana assembly elections, both the state BJP and Congress targeted the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) for being hand in glove with the company.
The controversy erupted after a CAG report said the company had been paid in excess of ₹5,000 crore for the project. The state BJP demanded a CBI probe. But now that it’s a Congress-led government and there remain persistent rumours of the BRS moving closer towards the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), what will happen to the political furore over the irrigation project and the company that bought more than ₹900 crore worth of electoral bonds?
Will the BJP still want a CBI probe? Conversely, if it emerges that Megha Engineering has also purchased bonds in favour of the Congress (remember the data is still to be matched), will the Revanth Reddy government go soft on them?
The transparency urged by the Supreme Court on electoral bonds is welcome as a constitutional ideal. And also to maintain a measure of accountability and transparency. But, in real terms, don’t expect the striking down of electoral bonds to clean up poll financing. Whether it is cash, corporate donations or electoral bonds, business houses in India clearly feel compelled to give money to the politically powerful.
This is not unique to India of course. But as long as big government (irrespective of the party) continues to have the final say on how corporations operate, I doubt anything can and will change when it comes to election funding.
Conflict of interest is written into the script.
Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author. The views expressed are personal
Barkha Dutt is consulting editor, NDTV, and founding member, Ideas Collective. She tweets as @BDUTT. …view detail