Mahesh Muralidhar tops the list of declared donors to the National Party who contributed more than $5000. Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
The National Party received the lion's share of donations from Kiwi Indians as the country geared up for the 2023 election, according to Electoral Commission data for 2023.
Figures compiled by the commission for the year ending 31 December show that nine Kiwi Indians made donations to National in 2023, with a further two individuals donating amounts to ACT.
On the other side of the political spectrum, the Labour Party attracted donations from a single individual, figures show.
The Green Party, New Zealand First and Te Pāti Māori received no donations from Kiwi Indians, figures show.
All political parties are obliged to disclose donations they receive in a calendar year to the commission by the end of April the following year.
Parties are obliged to report donors who have donated more than $5000, anonymous donations worth more than $1500 and overseas donations worth more than $50, among other conditions.
Mahesh Muralidhar, who stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for National in Auckland Central in the 2023 election, tops the list of donors to the party who gave more than $5000, donating $37,199.23.
Rich-lister Roshan Nauhria, managing director of Nauhria Precast and Reinforcing, takes second spot, donating $29,500.
Other donors on the list are Bharat Guha, chief financial officer of the Invercargill Licensing Trust ($10,132.68); Prakash Pandey of CPG Hotels, the country's largest privately owned hotel group ($10,000); Ranvir Singh of White Rose Builders ($10,000); Veer Vijay Singh of Oak Property Management ($7200); private investor Aaron Bhatnagar ($6375); real estate agent Lalit Arya ($5641); and managing director of National Steel, Vipan Garg ($5185).
The nine declared donors contributed a total of $121,232.91 to National's election campaign war chest last year.
Meanwhile, National collected a total of $4,015,899.34 from all donors who contributed more than $5000.
Indian electoral candidates also topped the list of fundraisers for National in the 2023 campaign, with Manurewa candidate Siva Kilari attracting donations worth $110,483 and Muralidhar bringing in contributions worth $109,496.
Two Kiwi Indians donated to ACT last year. Singh of White rose Builders donated $8,660.28, while former dairy owner Sanjay Thakar contributed $5,196.16.
Kalyan Kasuganti, a community leader who comes from the southern Indian state of Telangana, donated $10,204 to Labour.
The Greens received no donations from Kiwi Indians, but did receive two overseas donations exceeding $50 from Ganesh Subramanian ($100) in the United States and Saahil Sethi ($66) in India.
Amounts exceeding $50 were either returned to the donor or paid to the Electoral Commission, according to returns submitted by the Greens.
