The DMK, currently the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, was one of three parties which disclosed the names of its poll bond donors, according to the latest data put out by the Election Commission on Sunday. According to the data, the party received a total of Rs 656.5 crore via poll bonds from April 19 2019 till November 14, 2023. In 2019-2020, coinciding with the May 2019 general elections, the DMK received contributions totalling Rs 45.50 crore, even as the party was out of power in the state. The major donors included India Cements with Rs 10 crore, Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW) with Rs 1.50 crore, RAMCO Cements with Rs 5 crore, Mega Infrastructure with Rs 20 crore, Apollo with Rs 1 crore, Triveni with Rs 5 crore, Birla with Rs 1 crore, and IRB with Rs 2 crore. It is not clear if Mega Infra listed by DMK is the same as Megha Engineering, which was incorporated in 2006, while RoC records show a company named Mega Infrastructure incorporated in 2014. In 2020-2021, the DMK saw contributions totaling Rs 80 crore. Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd (FGH) donated Rs 60 crore, while Mega chipped in with Rs 20 crore. While the State Assembly elections were held in early 2021, the 2021-2022 financial year saw a big jump in the poll bond contributions received by the DMK, adding up to Rs 302 crore. FGH alone contributed Rs 249 crore, with Mega giving Rs 40 crore, Sun TV Network Rs 10 crore, India Cements Rs 4 crore, and Triveni Rs 3 crore. The local body polls held in February 2022 were no less significant. The flow of funds via poll bonds during this period, notably from entities like FGH, sustained the momentum. Among the major donors, FGH has been closely associated with the DMK for many years. While Santiago Martin, the owner of FGH, is known for his close association with DMK; he was targeted by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2011 for his close ties with the DMK's first family. Martin’s son-in-law, Aadhav Arjuna, used to be a close aide of Chief Minister M K Stalin’s son-in-law, Sabareesan, and was seen as an “insider” of DMK’s political and strategic operations in the 2021 Assembly polls, a period when FGH contributed Rs 249 crore to the party. Arjuna, a basketball player-cum-gym trainer, would also take part in the seat-sharing talks with the DMK's smaller allies. However, he failed to get a DMK ticket in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and joined the VCK, a DMK ally, last month. Triveni, another DMK donor, is engaged in infrastructure and engineering projects, with origins in Salem, and also has stakes in mining operations in Odisha. LMW, also based in Tamil Nadu, is engaged in machine tools manufacturing. In 2022-2023, the poll bond contributions to the DMK added up to Rs 185 crore, including Rs 160 crore from FGH, and Rs 25 crore from Mega. FGH contributed an additional Rs 40 crore in 2023.
