Three family members, three parties: How lottery baron Martin wields cross-party influence

That lottery baron Santiago Martin remains the single largest purchaser of electoral bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore, which he donated to several political parties across India is legendary by now. But what is not well known is that Martin has positioned his family members across different parties to safeguard the commercial interests of his company, Future Gaming. 

Three of Martin’s immediate family members are seeking to enter the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry legislative assemblies by contesting the elections as candidates of three different political parties. 

Martin’s wife Leema Rose, who joined the AIADMK recently, is contesting from Lalgudi in Tiruchirapalli district and their ambitious son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna is Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam’s (TVK) candidate from Villivakkam in Chennai. The couple’s son, Jose Charles Martin, is contesting from Kamaraj Nagar in the Union Territory of Puducherry as a candidate of his own party, Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi (LJK).

While Rose, Charles, and Arjuna have been part of Indiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK) run by Tamil billionaire Pariventhar, BJP, and Dalit party VCK in the past, this is the first time that they are making their electoral debuts.

With family members in rival parties, Martin aims to secure influence in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry no matter who wins power. Future Group’s estimated annual turnover is around Rs 15,000 crore.

Tiger Associates, linked to Martin, donated Rs 60 crore to AIADMK, and Rs 50 crore to DMK during the 2024-2025 fiscal. Martin is known to be close to the DMK’s first family and he contributed over Rs 500 crore worth of electoral bonds to the party between 2017 and 2024.

Prof Ramu Manivannan, former head, Department of Politics and Public Administration of the University of Madras, told DH that the development shows how the family has entrenched itself into the political system to protect its wealth.

“Three different individuals in three different parties that have no ideology only shows that none of them has any ideological conviction. Their only aim to is protect their wealth, and the best way to do that is to join political parties. Political parties also give them tickets in return for financial favours,” Manivannan added.

Rose has been allotted Lalgudi, a constituency with a sizeable chunk of Christians and Udayars, the community to which Martin belongs, in Tiruchirapalli district. Though the AIADMK’s ground-level infrastructure and her family’s financial resources will come handy, the challenge for Rose is to make inroads into the traditional DMK stronghold – the district has two powerful ministers in K N Nehru and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi.

Though Charles is new to Puducherry, the young billionaire, who has declared assets worth Rs 600 crore, is banking on his vast financial resources, the strength of BJP’s ally AINRC and his father’s old friends to romp home.

Among the three, Arjuna is the most ambitious and runs a political strategy firm, Voice of Commons. He was associated with the DMK for years together but jumped ship to VCK after it became increasingly clear that he won’t get a seat to contest the Lok Sabha polls – he had to quit the VCK as well after his frequent run-ins with the DMK did not go down well with his party chief Thol Thirumavalavan.

Arjuna then joined the fledgling TVK and has emerged as one of the key advisors to Vijay. He will face his once-friend, M Karthik in Villivakkam after the latter was “imported” from near-by Anna Nagar -- the DMK particularly chose the latter to challenge Arjuna.

Martin, a OBC Christian, had befriended influential people in almost every political party that mattered in the states where his firms operate – in Tamil Nadu, he was closely associated with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and in Kerala, he had a good rapport with the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Martin also produced a movie for which late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi wrote the script, while his donation of Rs 2 crore to Deshabimani, the CPI(M) mouthpiece in Kerala, met with opposition from within the party, forcing the then Left leadership to return the amount to the lottery baron.

Future Gaming, which still operates in 13 states where the sale of lottery tickets is legal, has over the years, diversified into real estate, hospitality, satellite television channel, and software.