New Delhi: An analysis in a financial daily outlines how some companies passed off electoral bonds in their annual reports using different formats.As several companies are answerable to shareholders, it becomes important to note how this information, of money to some political parties, was conveyed publicly.Business Standard finds that the data has been shown under “miscellaneous expenses and donations” with a note explaining the amount spent on electoral bonds or contributions to political parties.It writes that “a reading of the reports suggests that there is no standard practice for reporting political contributions and it is left to the company’s discretion to report them as they find fit. Many companies have clubbed all donations without giving a breakup, while a lot of large purchasers have not mentioned bonds in their annual reports at all.”The analysis notes that as per annual report filings, “mining and metal major Vedanta spent the most on electoral bonds in FY23, followed by Bharti Airtel and Jindal Steel & Power.”Other large companies that reported purchases of electoral bonds or political contributions in FY23 include Mahindra & Mahindra (Rs 25 crore), Cipla (Rs 24.2 crore), Torrent Power (Rs 23 crore), Aurobindo Pharma (Rs 21.5 crore), Maruti Suzuki (Rs 20 crore) and Hero MotoCorp (Rs 20 crore).Dr Reddy’s Labs while it bought electoral bonds worth Rs 80 crore between 2019 and 2024, does not mention it in the annual report. The same is true for Divi’s Laboratories, PCBL, and Torrent Pharmaceuticals, as there is no mention of the political funding in their annual reports.The newspaper analysis finds that many large political contributors “such as Hindalco Industries, DLF, UPL, and Zydus Lifesciences have bought electoral bonds through their unlisted subsidiaries.” This means they have felt no need to report it in the annual reports of the parent companies.As reported by The Wire earlier, one company the West Bengal-based IFB Agro openly said last month that it had paid Rs 40 crore in Electoral Bonds this financial year, three times its profits after tax. The company had created a stir in 2022 by declaring it will be donating electoral bonds. In a recording of IFB Agro’s annual general meeting of FY 2023 held on July 31, 2023, a shareholder is heard mentioning electoral bond payments over its spirits business and asking a question, if the company can take its business out of West Bengal, to another state. A senior company executive can be heard saying that electoral bonds were paid “as per our instructions from the government.”