“I Donated To…”: Biocon Head Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw On “Nominal” Electoral Bonds

New Delhi:

Biocon Ltd Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Monday said that her Bengaluru-based biopharmaceuticals firm did not make any donations to any political party using electoral bonds.

She, however, clarified that she had purchased electoral bonds “at a personal level” to donate to several parties, including former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular).

“Would like to clarify that Biocon did not make any political donation to JDS or any other party for elections. At a personal level, I purchased electoral bonds which I donated to JDS & several parties. My donations were nominal on the principle of funding election campaigns with white money,” she said in a post on X.

Would like to clarify that Biocon did not make any political donation to JDS or any other party for elections. At a personal level I purchased electoral bonds which I donated to JDS & several parties. My donations were nominal on the principle of funding election campaigns with…

— Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (@kiranshaw) March 18, 2024

Her clarification comes days after she pointed out a calculation error by a user on X on how much she donated using electoral bonds. The user claimed that she donated Rs 5 crore every month before the Karnataka Assembly elections, which were held last year.

Ms Mazumdar-Shaw replied to the post, “That’s incorrect. Pls do the math.”

A recheck of the total amount that Ms Mazumdar-Shaw donated via electoral bonds came to Rs 6 crore.

“It’s actually Rs 6 crore. If you believe you paid them through other modes, kindly specify those as well,” another user said on the microblogging platform.

“I am always transparent and what you see is what is correct,” Ms Mazumdar-Shaw said while replying to him.

BJP Received Rs 6,986 Crore Through Electoral Bonds

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received the maximum funds through electoral bonds at Rs 6,986.5 crore since they were introduced in 2018, the Election Commission data showed on Sunday.

The BJP was followed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (Rs 1,397 crore), Congress (Rs 1,334 crore) and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (Rs 1,322 crore).

Odisha’s ruling party, Biju Janata Dal, was the fourth largest recipient at Rs 944.5 crore followed by DMK at Rs 656.5 crore and Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress redeemed bonds worth nearly Rs 442.8 crore. The JD(S) received bonds worth Rs 89.75 crore.