NEW DELHI: About 355 of the 456 donors (or 77.8%) from Delhi who contributed Rs 2.21 crore to political parties in 2012-2013 did not disclose their PAN details, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has said. Among those who defaulted included Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh and former ministers Veerappa Moily, A K Antony and Sachin Pilot.
ADR said this was in violation of a September 2013 Supreme Court order which stipulates that no part of Form 24A submitted by political parties providing details of donations above Rs 20,000 should be blank.
None of the 346 donors from Delhi who donated Rs 2.16 crore to the Congress revealed their PAN details, ADR said. It further said that CPI had three donors donating Rs 4.21 lakh without PAN details while Aam Aadmi Party had six such donors who contributed Rs 1.62 lakh.
ADR said political parties received Rs 6 crore in donations from known sources in the national capital. "While Congress received Rs 2.16 crore from 346 donors, CPM received Rs 2.08 crore from 39 donors based in Delhi," an ADR statement said.
At the national level, the six national parties including Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, CPI and CPM together received Rs 99.14 crore from 3,777 donors who made a contribution above Rs 20,000 each. Regional parties received Rs 6.45 crore from 234 donors who donated above Rs 20,000 each.
ADR further noted that BSP did not receive any donation above Rs 20,000 in the financial year 2012-2013 as per records provided by the party.
It added, "Among the regional parties, SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal) had the maximum number of donors (62) from all over India who donated Rs 1.81 crore followed by AAP with 59 donors contributing Rs 73.94 lakh and RLD with 56 donors contributing Rs 1.09 crore. The maximum amount was declared by Samajwadi Party where only 12 donors donated Rs 2.24 crore."
Notably, among the regional parties Janata Dal (United), INLD and Lok Janshakti Party were among those who did not submit their donation reports for the financial year 2012-2013.
