NEW DELHI: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) got Rs 10 crore out of its total EB receipts of Rs 12 crore from Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (
MEIL
), the Hyderabad-based engineering company which figures among the top donors.
Data uploaded by Election Commission showed that MEIL purchased 10 EBs of Rs 1 crore each on Jan 7, 2022. JD(U), then part of NDA coalition, encashed those bonds on Jan 10, 2022.
In March 2022, the company got the contract to construct the 230-km Darbhanga Expressway of the
NHAI
by virtue of being the lowest bidder.
This four-lane access-controlled highway will be the first expressway in the state.
MEIL was the second biggest donor to parties through EBs from April 2019 to Feb 2024 after Future Gaming.
Besides Rs 10 crore from MEIL, JD(U) had earlier received Rs 1 crore from Shree Cement Limited, Ajmer (Rajasthan) on April 16, 2019, and Rs 1 crore from Bharti Infratel Ltd on April 26, 2019..
In its submission to EC in May 2019, JD(U) disclosed getting Rs 2 crore from two donors – Shree Cement and Bharti Airtel – through EBs in April 2019. However, it was mum on the donor of Rs 10 crore, saying it was not aware of the identity as someone came to its Patna office on April 3, 2019, and handed over a sealed envelope which, the party claimed, had 10 bonds of Rs 1 crore each.
However, there is a mismatch in what the party claimed in its submission to Election Commission of India in May 2019 and the redemption/purchase information released on Thursday. There are no details of the ‘anonymous’ donors in Thursday’s data and, besides, it turns out that MEIL had, in fact, purchased the bonds only in Jan 2022.